Vietnam is now positioned where China was a decade ago, logging about 110 boys
born to every 100 girls in a country where technology is readily available to
determine the sex of a fetus and where abortion is legal, according to research
released this week by the UN Population Fund.
The sex ratio at birth generally should equal about 105 boys to 100 girls,
according to the report.
"The consequences are already happening in neighboring countries like China,
South Korea and Taiwan. They have to import brides," said Tran Thi Van,
assistant country representative of the Population Fund in Hanoi, adding that
many brides are coming from Vietnam. "I don't know where Vietnam could import
brides from if that situation happened here in the next 10 or 15 years."
The report, which looked at China, India, Vietnam and Nepal, warned that
tinkering with nature's probabilities could cause increased violence against
women, trafficking and social tensions. It predicted a "marriage squeeze," with
the poorest men being forced to live as bachelors.
Gender imbalance among births has been rising in parts of Asia since the 1980s,
after ultrasound and amniocentesis provided a way to determine a fetus' sex
early in pregnancy. Despite laws in several countries banning doctors from
revealing the baby's sex, many women still find out and choose to abort girls.
"I have noticed that there have been more and more boys than girls," said
Truong Thi My Ha, a nurse at Hanoi's Maternity Hospital. "Most women are very
happy when they have boys, while many are upset if they have girls."
In China, the 2005 estimate was more than 120 boys born to 100 girls, with
India logging about 108 boys to 100 girls in 2001, when the last census was
taken. However, pockets of India have rates of 120 boys. In several Chinese
provinces, the ratio spikes to more than 130 boys born to 100 girls.
Reports of female infanticide still surface in some poor areas of countries and
death rates are higher among girls in places like China, where they are
sometimes breast-fed for shorter periods, given less health care and
vaccinations and even smaller portions of food than their brothers, the report
said.
It estimated Asia was short 163 million females in 2005 when compared to
overall population balances of men and women elsewhere in the world. It said
sex ratios at birth in other countries, such as Nepal, Pakistan and Bangladesh,
also should be closely monitored to avoid uneven trends there.
Earlier research has documented the gender imbalance in the region. A UNICEF
report last year estimated 7,000 girls go unborn every day in India.
"It's very difficult to imagine what's going to be the exact impact of these
missing girls in 20 years," said Christophe Guilmoto, an author of the report
presented this week at a reproductive health conference in Hyderabad, India.
"No human society that we know has faced a similar problem."
The reasons boys are favored over girls are complex and deeply rooted in Asian
society. In many countries, men typically receive the inheritance, carry on the
family name and take care of their parents in old age, while women often leave
to live with their husband's family.
In India, wedding costs and dowries are usually required of the parents of the
bride, and sons are the only ones permitted by the Hindu religion to perform
the last rites when their fathers die.
"My husband took me to a private clinic to be checked. I broke down in tears
when I saw the result because I knew this is not what my husband wanted," said
Nguyen Thi Hai Yen, 33, recalling when she discovered her second baby was a
girl. "But he was good. He told me it was OK."
China has a one-child policy, while Vietnam encourages only two children per
family after relaxing an earlier ban on having more. Such limits have led many
women to abort girls and keep trying for sons who can carry on the family
lineage.
The report calls for increased public awareness, more government intervention
and steps to elevate women's place in society by promoting gender equality.
