Name: Tố ng Cô ng Nam

ID: DS14007

Topic: SOUTHEAST ASIA WOMEN IN NEGOTIATION.

To be able to talk about Southeast Asian women, we will divide them into two different categories,
one is the women of the Muslim countries, the other is the women of the rest of the countries in this
region.
Muslim countries in the ASEAN region include Brunei, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Although they are
all Muslim, each country has its own way of negotiating.
In some Muslim countries, in general, women are not allowed to work or participate in social work,
so when dealing with Muslim businessmen, if there are women in the negotiating team, then the
woman must dress discreetly, should not wear short skirts but should wear long skirts to the heels,
it is best to wear a suit, the hair must be covered with a scarf because Muslim men think that the
hair is the "sexiest part" and only the husband can see it (Cô ng Thương Magazine, 2004) .
However, now Muslim women have become more bold in participating in social activities, for many
reasons (poverty or families with many daughters), make Muslim women have to work to be able to
support the economy, Muslim women are no longer limited as before, the more the movements for
women's rights take place, the more they receive social recognition.
In business, Muslim women also face many difficulties because this religion has too many
formalities, especially they have to fast during the month of Ramadan. This month they do not eat
meat and only eat when it is dark, moreover, they have to do mass 5 times/day. The Muslim week is
counted from Saturday to Wednesday next week and they rest on Thursday and Friday. At this time,
Muslims are not interested in business (Saigon Economic Times, 2003).
In addition, Muslim women in Southeast Asia are more disadvantaged than women in the rest of the
region, society's opinion of Muslim women (Bathmaker et al., 2016), they are not actively deciding
in every job, it is difficult to climb to high positions in the company.
Unlike Muslim women, women in the rest of Southeast Asia are more relaxed, they keep up with the
times, they are open and confident to express their strong personality and stance during
negotiations. If one does a good job, you will get the right position with your ability, there are many
women holding important positions in the political apparatus in Southeast Asian countries, the
number of women starting a business is higher in these countries than in Muslim countries.
In short, Southeast Asian women have a lot of talented people, but there is still a lack of recognition
for them, and having competence has not improved gender equality, this is a long-standing
inadequacy from the old viewpoints. Women also have a higher EQ than men, so in negotiations,
women will have a certain degree of flexibility and listen more, which means they have more
patience.