In Vietnam women enjoyed greater equality than in China. This was most observed in the lower classes of the society. Yet the women did not have much freedom to decide their future.They had almost no role to play in public life. The growth of nationalist movement led to questioning of the women’s status. Soon writers and political thinkers were idealising rebel women who had dared to go against social norms. In the 1930s, a famous novel by Nhat Linh caused a scandal because it showed a woman leaving a forced marriage and marrying someone of her choice, someone who was involved in nationalist politics. This rebellion against social conventions marked the arrival of the new women in Vietnamese society.