Vietnam has a gender imbalance due to male-dominated prejudice.
Many Vietnamese believe that only sons can shoulder the responsibility of worshiping ancestors and continuing the family line, leading to a higher birth rate of boys than girls.
Son La is the province with the highest gender imbalance at birth, with 120 boys born for every 100 girls. The next four provinces with a higher birth rate of boys than girls are Hung Yen, Bac Ninh, Thanh Hoa, and Hai Duong.
At the population training last weekend, Ms. Nguyen Thi Quynh Anh, Representative of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), said that Vietnam is a country heavily influenced by Confucianism with many customs and practices, including the custom of "preferring males and despising females". Many people believe that only sons can shoulder the responsibility of worshipping ancestors and continuing the family line. This is gender bias, the fundamental cause of gender imbalance at birth.
Gender stereotypes are biased and negative perceptions, attitudes and assessments of the characteristics, positions, roles and abilities of men and women. For example, the stereotype that housework is women's work, not men's work. Men are considered the pillars and main breadwinners in the family. "These notions have been formed for a long time, passed down from generation to generation through education and learning, gradually creating inherent thoughts about the roles, abilities and types of work that women and men can do," said Ms. Quynh Anh.
Ms. Quynh Anh analyzed the differences in roles, responsibilities, positions and powers of men and women that society has created, causing disadvantages for both sexes, demonstrating gender inequality. Global statistics show that women's income is about 50-90% of men's income. In Africa and Asia, women work an average of 12-13 hours more than men per week. Of the 872 million illiterate people in developing countries, women account for 2/3. In Vietnam alone, rural women work an average of 14 hours a day and earn 20-40% less than men's income.
"All of this leads to an imbalance in the sex ratio at birth," she said.
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| It is estimated that in the future, Vietnam will have about 2-4 million men who cannot find wives due to the high male birth rate. Photo: Le Phuong |
The imbalance in the sex ratio at birth will have a negative impact on the population structure in the future, leading to a surplus of men in society. Without timely intervention measures, it is estimated that by 2050, Vietnam will have from 2.3 to 4.3 million men who cannot find wives. In the long term, it will lead to serious consequences such as the lack of women, which will increase the pressure on girls to marry early, drop out of school to start a family, and possibly increase the demand for prostitution, leading to increased trafficking of women.
