Nexus of Gender and Waste Management and Case Study in Da Lat, Vietnam

The concept of social inclusion originated in the mid-20th century, in which gender equality was one of the important movements. It refers to the process of improving people’s ability and opportunity to access and use social services on equal terms, regardless of their age, ability, ethnicity, cultural and religious background, and socioeconomic status. Waste management is one of the community services provided by municipalities that plays a vital role in defining the quality of life for women and men in a community. It’s traditionally assumed that the waste sector is gender-neutral, however, gender inequalities and norms persist in almost every aspect of the industry.  

In Viet Nam’s society, women are traditionally responsible for managing household waste as part of their daily chores, meaning they have greater engagement with domestic waste management and its services. Additionally, they are also the ones who make purchasing decisions on the household level when it comes to everyday items. This practice reflects the traditional stereotypes of male and female roles in daily life. This practice also mirrors the waste management sector through the gendered labor division. It’s recognized that women are often employed by processing companies to sort, clean, separate, and sift recyclable materials through the various stages of processing. On the other hand, when it comes to tasks requiring more labor-intensive activities, it is likely the stage for men who dominate higher-income and decision-making roles whether as scrap dealers or owners of recycling businesses. In the informal and independent sector, women are primarily found in the lower tier. They typically work as street recycling pickers, itinerant buyers, and small-scale junk shop operators. 

As key purchase decision-makers and as the primary users of waste management services at the household level and being engaged in various types of work in the waste management sector, women will play an essential role, both as change-makers, leaders, and beneficiaries. Because of that, mainstreaming gender in the waste sector will contribute to the transition to a more efficient, effective, sustainable, and equitable waste management system. 

A Gender Analysis in Municipal Solid Waste Management (MSWM) was conducted to capture the picture of gender dynamics in the waste sector in Da Lat and to investigate entry points to promote gender sensitivity in the industry.  The technical methodology was based on the contextualization and localization as demonstrated below:

Translation from Gender Analysis Guidance into Methodology Framework

Key findings of the study are: 

1. Entrenched social-cultural and gender norms bias and gender inequalities in both households and institutional/organizational levels persist. Women are prominent (80%) in all phases of waste management including collection, segregation, transportation, and treatment; part of it is trade related to collecting and selling recyclable waste, compared to 20% of male participation; 

1. The number of female workers in the waste sector is almost twofold the number of male workers counterparts in both the formal and informal sectors (about 64% female compared to 36% male); 

1. Male workers often undertake tasks such as business management, packaging, loading and unloading, and driving; Female workers dominate the work of street waste collection/street sweeping, purchasing recyclables from households, and picking street waste (over 90%); 

1. Available opportunities are investigated such as increasing gender-disaggregated database, existing regulatory framework, and designing relevant stakeholders/actors coordination system; 

1. Lack of regulation enforcement, and mobilized resources, together with fragmented management and deficient competencies are vital challenges and limitations in integrating a gender-sensitive and social inclusion waste management system in Da Lat.  

To address and tackle the abovementioned gender in waste management issues, a roadmap with recommendations is designed.

The ultimate purpose of the project is to optimize municipal solid waste management, in which, gender elements are considerably taken up and effectively promoted with practical pilot models. It is strongly believed that promoting gender and enhancing the participation of women in the waste sector can lead to more efficient and effective waste management operations.