English - CEDAW Southeast Asia

CEDAW and the Law:
Personal property of the spouses
Spouses have the right to own personal property. 734 They also have the right to possess, use,
manage and dispose their own personal property. 735 However, if either spouse is unable to
manage personal property and does not authorize another person to manage it, the other
spouse may manage the personal property of the other. 736 It is also provided in law that: (a)
each spouse’s own property obligations are performed with his/her personal property; (b)
personal property of husband and wife can be used to meet the family’s essential needs if their
common property is not enough; and (c) where either spouse’s personal property has been
put to common use and the profits or yields from such personal property constitute the family’s
sole means of livelihood, the disposition of such personal property must be agreed on by both
husband and wife. 737
Common property of households
There are also provisions regulating common property of households. Article 106 of the Civil
Code states that “family households in which members have common property and jointly
contribute their efforts and labor to the common economic activities in agricultural, forestry or
fishery production or in a number of other production and/or business domains defined by law
shall be subjects when participating in civil relations in such domains.” As such, the head of a
household will be the representative of the household in civil transactions for the common
interest of the household. 738 The father, mother or another adult member may be the head of
the household. Article 110 of the Civil Code states that “family households must bear civil
liability for the exercise of civil rights and the performance of civil obligations, which are
established and performed in the name of the family households by their respective
representatives. Family households shall bear civil liability with their common property; if such
is insufficient, their members must bear joint liability with their own property.” In reality, despite
the gender-neutral provisions, only around one quarter of households are registered as
female-headed households. 739 The percentage of female-headed households among married
couples is low, reflecting the stereotyped notion of a male head of the family and,
consequently, a male head of household.
310
It is evident that formal equality in this area is already guaranteed by the legal
documents in Viet Nam. In practice, there may be room for improvement of the laws in
particular the increased recognition in reality of women as an equal partner and head of the
family. It is suggested that, to ensure formal inclusion of both spouses in transactions involving
common real property, agreement of the other spouse must be in writing, whether or not
registered in the names of both spouses. Another area of focus must be ensuring safe spaces
for the exercise of property rights within the family; for example, although joint representation
and agreement of both spouses are generally required for transactions involving the common
734
Marriage and Family Law, Article 32 (1)
735
Ibid., Article 33(1)
736
Ibid., Article 33(2)
737
Ibid., Article 33
738
Civil Code, Article 107 (1)
739
Wells, op. cit., p. 11
Review of key legal documents and compliance with CEDAW