“I already have two daughters in high school. Now, I am looking for eggs to find another son. Because my husband is the only son, we need a grandson for his family.” That is the sharing of Ms. Tran Thi K. (Phan Thiet City). Not only Ms. K. but also many other cases want to have a son and use many ways to choose the gender at birth. This leads to consequences in society.
More boys than girls
Because of the preference for sons to worship, continue the family line, take care of old parents, to have people to work in the fields, go to sea... For that reason, many people choose the sex of the fetus by following a diet, determining the ovulation date; screening sperm during pregnancy to select sperm carrying the Y chromosome; after pregnancy, using ultrasound, taking the pulse, and aspirating amniocentesis to determine the sex. In particular, abortion is performed to remove the fetus if the fetus has an undesirable sex. Most mothers today know the sex of the fetus before birth. On the other hand, Vietnam's population policy encourages each couple to have only 2 children, discouraging the birth of a third child. This more or less puts pressure on couples who want to have a son. Many couples today only have 1 child, delaying the birth of a second child is also a reason for the choice of the sex of the fetus.
These causes lead to an imbalance in the sex ratio at birth. Binh Thuan is no exception. Currently, the province is one of 18 provinces and cities classified in group 2 with a sex ratio at birth of 109-112 boys/100 girls according to Decision 3671 of the Ministry of Health on the list of provinces and cities in regions according to sex ratio at birth to develop a project to control sex imbalance at birth for the period 2021 - 2025. Accordingly, if in 2019, the sex ratio at birth in Binh Thuan was 112 boys/100 girls, in 2021 it was 111.8 boys/100 girls and 111.5 boys/100 girls in 2022. This shows that the sex ratio at birth in Binh Thuan is gradually decreasing, but still falls into a state of sex imbalance at birth. Meanwhile, the natural balance is the normal sex ratio at birth that fluctuates between 103-106 boys/100 girls.
Change thinking, behavior
Gender imbalance at birth leads to a surplus of males and a shortage of females in the future. If the current trend of gender imbalance at birth continues, by 2039, the gap between the number of males and females in Vietnam will be 1.5 million men without women to marry. This puts pressure on women to marry early, while men will have great difficulty in getting married. In addition, it changes the population structure by gender, leading to changes in the structure of occupations, jobs, production, and consumption in society, directly affecting the socio-economic development of the country.
To solve the problem of gender imbalance at birth, it is necessary to promote communication and education on gender equality; to change appropriate communication messages from focusing on the birth reduction of the previous period to conveying the consequences of gender imbalance at birth, regulations prohibiting the selection of the sex of the fetus, etc. Honoring families with only girls who properly implement population policies - family planning, and raise successful and filial children. Along with that, synchronously develop social security policies for the elderly, supporting those who have no place to rely on when they get old.
It is known that since the beginning of 2023, the Binh Thuan Department of Health has organized training for population collaborators in the province on new information about the causes, current situation and solutions to control gender imbalance at birth. From there, collaborators have enough basic knowledge and necessary skills to communicate in the assigned areas.
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