Friday, November 02, 2007

International News

Cultural Preference for Male Children in Vietnam Increasing Gender Imbalance in Asia, UNFPA Reports Say

      A cultural preference for male children in Vietnam is "further tipping the balance between the sexes in Asia," where couples in China and India also prefer boys, according to a series of reports released this week by the United Nations Population Fund, the AP/Washington Post reports. The reports -- presented at a reproductive health conference in Hyderabad, India -- examined birth trends in China, India, Nepal and Vietnam (Mason, AP/Washington Post, 10/31).

Vietnam for decades had a two-child-per-family policy, but it was not enforced as rigorously as China's one-child policy, Agence France-Presse reports. Vietnam in 2003 banned fetal sex selection, but many physicians continue to tell couples the sex of their fetus. According to the reports, the two-child policy, combined with increased access to ultrasound and abortion, are fueling gender imbalance in the country (Agence France-Presse, 10/31). The reports found that about 110 boys for every 100 girls are born in Vietnam, compared with the typical sex ratio of about 105 boys to 100 girls.

In China, about 120 boys were born for every 100 girls in 2005, and in India the ratio in 2001 was about 108 boys for every 100 girls, according to the AP/Post. In some areas of China and India, the ratio is as high as 130 boys per 100 girls and 120 boys per 100 girls, respectively (AP/Washington Post, 10/31). The highest provincial ratio in Vietnam was 123 boys per 100 girls, the reports found (Agence France Presse, 10/31).

The reports estimated that Asia in 2005 was short 163 million females, compared with rates for other areas of the world and said that the gender imbalances increased social unrest and trafficking of women. The reports called for increased awareness, government intervention and promotion of gender equality in the region. UNFPA also recommended that gender ratios be monitored in Nepal, Pakistan and Bangladesh to avoid similar trends (AP/Washington Post, 10/31). In addition, the reports said that Vietnam "needs to act now if it is to avoid the situation of more men than women evident elsewhere in Asia" (Agence France-Presse, 10/31).

Reaction
Daniele Belanger, research chair and director of the Population Studies Centre at the University of Western Ontario, in a recent research paper wrote that sex-selective abortion in Asia "has the power to free" women from a "clash between the high demand for sons and the low demand for children." Although sex-selective abortion empowers women in the short term, it likely will "further threaten their position in the long term," she wrote, adding, "Once this imbalance reaches marriageable age groups, a shortage of women poses serious problems, particularly in societies where marriage is a nearly universal norm" (Agence France Presse, 10/31).

Christophe Guilmoto, a report author, said that it is "difficult to imagine what's going to be the exact impact of these missing girls in 20 years," adding, "No human society that we know has faced a similar problem" (AP/Washington Post, 10/31).

The reports are available online.