The Nationalist Movement in Indo-China

(i) Women as Rebels : Women in Vietnam traditionally enjoyed greater equality than in China, particularly among the lower classes. However, they had only limited freedom in social life and to determine their future..
As the nationalist movement grew, the status of women came to be questioned and a new image of womanhood emerged. There were many women who rebelled against injustice being done to them.
Writers and political thinkers began idealising these women. In the 1930s, a famous novel by Nhat Linh inspired many women as it showed a woman leaving a forced marriage and marrying someone of her choice, someone who was involved in nationalist politics. This rebellion against social conventions marked the arrival of the new woman in the Vietnamese society.
(ii) Heroes of Past Times : To highlight the contribution of women in the Vietnam's history, the nationalist Phan Boi Chau wrote a play based on the lives of the Trung sisters who had fought against the Chinese domination in 39-43 CE. In this play, he depicted these sisters as patriots fighting to save the Vietnamese nation from the Chinese. After Phan's play, the Trung sisters came to be idealised and glorified. They were depicted in paintings, plays and novels as representing the indomitable will and the intense patriotism of the Vietnamese. It was shown through the play how the sisters gathered a force of over 30,000, resisted the Chinese for two years and when ultimately defeated, they committed suicide, instead of surrendering to the enemy.
(iii) Women as Warriors : Women played a major role in the Vietnam War. Thousands of women were killed in the war. Both print and electronic media highlighted their achievements.
They were portrayed as young, brave and dedicated. Stories were written to show how happy they felt when they joined the army and could carry a rifle. Some stories spoke of their incredible bravery in single-handedly killing the enemy – Nguyen Thi Xuan, for instance, was reputed to have shot down a jet with just twenty bullets. Women were represented not only as warriors but also as workers : they were shown with a rifle in one hand, and a hammer in the other.
(iv) Women in Times of Peace : By the  1970s, as peace talks began to get under  way, and the end of the war seemed near. Women were no longer represented as warriors. Now, woman was being represented as a worker. She was shown working in agricultural cooperatives, factories and production units, rather than fighters in the army.