TADIOTO

President Nguyen Minh Triet of Viet Nam at Asia Society in New York last week:  

“When you come to Viet Nam, you will see Vietnamese people who are very hospitable, friendly, and especially the Vietnamese women… these are very charming when they wear the long dress, ao dai, and they are very gentle and very hospitable.”   

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Se5toEsmmuc&feature=dir   

Can somebody please tell the speechwriters…?
The sexism is troublesome enough, but it’s not even true: few women wear the dress except saleswomen in boutiques serving tourists. But that’s a minor issue.
I wish he’d talk about all the businesswomen, the women doing research, teaching, practicing law, raising families, traveling, writing, running companies and stores, the women cops, the farmers who toil under the hot sun, etc. Something not clichéd.
There are few women in the leadership, and there are many suffering from sexism in their relationships and marriages… But there are plenty of tough, tough, tough, Vietnamese women (who can also be gentle)… And come visit, I will take you meet the Vietnamese women in my neighborhood. You wouldn’t think of them as charming. Maybe the speechwriters and the President haven’t been to Ha Noi’s Women’s Museum lately, to remind themselves of those who were revolutionary fighters, spies, and war volunteers. 

Some Vietnamese Americans have protested the President’s visit, mostly regarding human rights. Wish they would question this kind of statement… it barely conceals the disrespect, and an attitude that will keep human rights for women, or women’s rights, in the dark.