Travel & culture · Forma

Vietnamese Women’s Museum, Hanoi

A visit to the museum telling the story of women in Vietnamese history, from family life to the guerrilla fighters of wartime.

By Tanika ThotaDecember 2025

The Vietnamese Women's Museum in Hanoi, a white building with coloured window panes and a flower-lined staircase

Hanoi was the first city I visited in Vietnam, from it's abominable road-traffic etiquette, the vibrant boutique shops, the smell of the Bahn Mi baguette stalls, all mixed with its history and relations with French colonialism which makes it the perfect home for creative artistry.

In the capital, amongst it's thousand year old culture, there lies a museum, full of influences from the rest of South East Asia, China and France.

This museum is called 'Bảo tàng Phụ nữ Việt Nam' which directly translates to the 'Vietnamese Women's museum'.

The museum represents women's roles in Vietnamese history, in their families, and how they helped during Vietnamese hardships.

The entrance of the museum has a grand façade, with a big open space leading up to the marble staircase.

The name of the museum is written in Vietnamese, English and French, marking the cultural influence Vietnam has had post the French Colonial War.

As you enter the building, there is a central spine of conical hats, starting from the roof of the building to the ground.

Colourful conical hats hanging from the museum ceiling above a circular atrium — The central spine of conical hats.

They are known for their uses on farmland to protect women from the sun on the field during work. A magnificent piece to introduce you to the world of Vietnamese art to come.

Here is a video, of women in action wearing these traditional conical hats whilst at work. This video was taken just beneath the Ngoa Long Mountain.

A golden statue of a mother holding a child in the museum atrium with information panels either side — The Mother and Child statue on the ground floor.

The Mother and Child statue is the centre piece of the ground floor and gives visitors a warm welcome.

The statue supposedly captures the essence of Vietnamese motherhood: strength, affection and loyalty to her family.

The women's textile section, showed intricate designs for costumes, and traditional wear.

Red and yellow embroidered shoes shaped like phoenixes beside a pink beaded costume — Embroidered shoes from the textile display.

The detailing was very unique to Vietnamese culture.

Close-up of dragon and flower embroidery in purple, orange and green silk thread — Embroidery detail in vivid colours.

The colours were vivid and contrasting, with shiny gold and silver lining. Some costumes were embezzled with jewels and pearls, adding a royal touch.

An ornate gold and red altar with a mannequin in a red ceremonial costume in front — A shrine display on folk religion and ancestor worship.

We learnt that the Vietnamese primarily follow a folk religion, characterised by worship to different divine beings, spirits, and ancestors.

A wall display of colourful embroidered children’s hats with pendants and pompoms — Children’s hats adorned with pendants and amulets.

These hats were made for children, adorned with pendants and amulets, to ensure children's protection from evil spirits.

A baby carried on the back of a young girl in matching knitted hats, in a museum photograph — A baby carried by a big sister, from the museum’s photographs.

As someone who was born in 2005, seeing these photographs of babies in the same year as me was eye-opening.

A Hmong mother in traditional dress holding the hands of two young daughters outside a thatched house, in a museum photograph — A Hmong mother with her daughters, Lào Cai, 2005.

To see children having a completely different experience in life was interesting to see, and it also raised questions in my mind as to what these children were doing now.

Four framed vintage posters of Vietnamese women workers and fighters on a red museum wall — Posters of women workers and fighters.

In villages, Vietnamese women also created a popular army called 'The Guerrillas'. They were founded to fight against enemy raids and to destroy enemy posts.

Nationally, 980,000 Vietnamese women participated as guerrilla forces.

This group fought 680 battles and destroyed 13 enemy posts. During the resistance war, twelve guerrilla women were awarded the 'Hero' title.

Visiting this museum was empowering, and showed me the experiences of women and the incredible things they achieved, defying gender norms.

Vietnamese women were warriors who were also incredible mothers.

They experienced a difficult life very early on, and had many more responsibilities than the average Western child.

These women were at the forefront of the development of Vietnamese culture, and I left with a proud feeling to be a woman.

I found inspiration to create more feminist art and incorporate more of my experiences as a woman in the work I make to represent this feeling.