Although Vietnam is committed to complying with international frameworks on gender equality such as CEDAW, the Beijing Platform, and the 2030 Agenda, women still face many barriers in exercising their land use rights in practice. This study uses a doctrinal legal research method combined with comparative analysis to: (i) systematically analyze the provisions on gender equality in the 2024 Land Law; (ii) compare these provisions with the 2013 Land Law and relevant international standards; and (iii) assess the challenges in implementation from the perspective of substantive equality. The results show three notable areas of progress: (1) gender equality is recognized for the first time as a specific right of land users; (2) gender discrimination is included in the list of prohibited acts in land management and use; and (3) the scope and procedures for joint land use rights certification for spouses are clarified. However, gaps in legislative drafting, enforcement mechanisms, and the persistence of patriarchal social norms continue to widen the gap between equality on paper and equality in practice, as evidenced by the persistent 32% proportion of certificates registered solely in men’s names with no updated official data released nearly four years later; the absence of specific sanctions for gender discrimination in land use under Decree 123/2024/ND-CP; and the lack of mandatory enforcement mechanisms for joint spousal certification under the 2024 Law’s implementing regulations. Based on this, the article proposes several recommendations to improve the law and strengthen enforcement mechanisms to better align with CEDAW and SDG 5.a standards.
Huyen et al. (Wed,) studied this question.