This paper reviews the status quo of women entrepreneurs considering the impact of socio -cultural norms and institutions on women's entrepreneurship in Vietnam. First, we discuss relevant literature and provide an overview of women's entrepreneurship in Vietnam. We analyse the impact of socio-cultural norms and institutional landscape on motivation to start and do business of Vietnamese women and identify critical facilitators and barriers that currently affect women entrepreneurs in Vietnam. Finally, we propose recommendations for changes to traditions and norms, and improvement of government policies in supporting women entrepreneurship in Vietnam Research for this paper was funded by the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs under the SECO / WT I Academic Cooperation Project, based at the World Trade Institute of the University of Bern, Switzerland.SECO working papers are preliminary documents posted on the WTI website ( www.wti.org) and widely circulated to stimulate discussion and critical comment. These papers have not been formally edited. Citat ions should refer to a "SECO / WTI Academic Cooperation Project" paper with appropriate reference made to the author(s). We analyse the impact of socio-cultural norms and institutional landscape on motivation to start and do business of Vietnamese women and identify critical facilitators and barriers that currently affect women entrepreneurs in Vietnam. Finally, we propose recommendations for changes to traditions and norms, and improvement of government policies in supporting women entrepreneurship in Vietnam.