Experts
on Wednesday called for Asian countries to intensify work to address gender
imbalance that could threaten social stability in the future.
Speaking at a two-day international conference
to address the issue, Nobuko Horibe, director of the United Nations Population
Fund in Asia-Pacific, said gender discrimination had fuelled alarming sex
selection trends in a number of Asian countries.
"This will impact on future generations
and will have serious demographic implications as the world population reaches
seven billion this month," Horibe said.
"Discrimination against girls anywhere in
the world is a social ill and a human rights violation, which must be
stopped."
Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan
stressed in his opening address that similar to other Asian countries, the
Vietnamese government expressed significant concern over the country's rising
sex ratio at birth, which could reach 1:1.15 in favour of males by 2015 without
comprehensive intervention.
According to Christopher Guilmoto, an
international technical expert at the Institute of Research for Development in
Paris, experts estimated that today at least 117 million women across Asia were
"missing", largely due to the current sex ratio imbalance at birth.
The phenomenon "missing women of
Asia" was first brought to the world's attention in the 1990s by Indian
economist Amartya Sen, referring to the fact that their potential existence had
been eliminated through sex selection abortion or female infanticide.
Guilmoto's studies showed that the total
gender gap in 14 Asian countries, including Viet Nam, South Korea, Singapore,
India and China, had increased from 66 million in 1950 to the current level of
117 million. Three major factors that caused this, Guilmoto said, were sex
selection technology, son preference and fertility decline, even though there
had been no comprehensive studies to determine how much each factor contributed
to the problem.
Guilmoto suggested governments should lower
pressure to reduce the fertility rate, regulate the accessible level of
sex-selection technology and monitor illegal abortions, in addition to
implementing policies to benefit families that have girls.
Nguyen Van Tan, Deputy General Director of the
General Office for Population and Family Planning in Viet Nam, said the country
was likely to experience "a surplus of males and a shortage of
females" of a marriageable age by 2025-2030 if the situation was allowed
to continue.
In 2000, Viet Nam's sex ratio at birth (SRB)
was still at normal levels and estimated at 106.2 male births per 100 female
births. Latest statistics from related government agencies showed that number
increased to 111.2 in 2010. The Red River Delta region currently records the
highest SRB, at 117.1 for urban areas and 111.5 for rural areas. Notably, the
trend of sex-selection at birth had spread to lower-income groups, statistics
showed.
According to Tan, the problem would lead to
serious demographic and socio-economic problems, including severe disruption in
the marriage system due to a surplus of men, pressure on women to marry at a
younger age, and rising demand for sex work and trafficking.
In Viet Nam, Tan said the reasons behind the
increase had to do with the "son preference" mindset that had been
implanted in Vietnamese society for generations, and under-developed social
protection for the elderly which led to those without sons feeling insecure.
Other supporting factors included newly
established social orders such as the 1-2 child limit and the current problem
of gender inequality, which had also motivated some women to use pre-natal sex
selection services, he added.
Luo Mai, director of the National Population
and Family Planning Commission of China, said in 2011, the Chinese government
considered reducing SRB as one of the top priorities in its socio-economic
development strategy.
China would aim at reducing SRB as a national
priority, according to Mai, by various actions such as revising retirement and
social security policies, and raising the minimum living standard in addition
to integrating gender equality into socio-economic policies.
This year, the Vietnamese Prime Minister has
instructed the creation of a national strategic plan to reduce SRB. The plan
would be implemented in provinces that had recorded the highest SRB in the past
five years, with the goal of bringing back the normal SRB level after 2020.
The conference attracted representatives from
11 countries and officials from high-ranking UN and international agencies.
News Desk
Viet Nam News
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