Moderator : Thái Thị Ngọc Dư, Former Founder and Dean of the Faculty of Women's Studies at HCM City Open University
I was born in 1960 when a large part of the globe was reviving after the second World War and when the Vietnamese were still proudly holding their heads high in the echoes of the Dien Bien Phu victory. I spent my childhood in the war between Vietnam and the United States and witnessed the end of that longest war of the20th century, which ended with my country's reunification. I am also a witness to great efforts to realise the socialist ideal not only in Vietnam but in the Soviet Union as well as their transition periods. I could have lived like most people of my generation-the transitional generation. I can stay as a government official with a life-time employment. But I chose another path. I left the state institution to start an NGO, institution that has to, in the context of Viet Nam, constantly struggle for its legitimacy and voice. I could have peacefully lived the life of a woman who adhered to traditional values, but I have become a feminist, fighting for women's rights and gender equality. My life has not been easy, but it is an exciting and meaningful life. I can proudly say that it has been a journey of constant commitments and creativity.
Khuất Thu Hồng is the Founder and Director of the Institute for Social Development Studies (ISDS), an independent research organisation in Hanoi, Vietnam. She got her BA in Psychology in 1984 and earned her PhD in Sociology in 1997. Hong works on gender, sexuality, and social inclusion of vulnerable populations. Hong is also a social activist and advocate for gender equality and social inclusion. She is a regular guest on national and international televisions and radios and is often interviewed by newspapers on gender and social development issues in Viet Nam.
