Abstract
This chapter covers the Vietnamese case study. Son preference endured from the Confucian past to the Communist present. With access to reproductive technologies emerging after the Doi Moi reformation and a two-child population policy in place, sex-selective abortions gained increased popularity. Subsequently, a distinct rise in birth masculinization at national and regional levels can be observed. Vietnam responded promptly to the situation by outlawing sex selection in 2003 with the Population Ordinance. However, the timeliness of the policy roll out suggests that the Ordinance triggered the onset of sex imbalances in Vietnam pointing to a perverse policy effect. Efforts to address sex selection have been continuously stepped up through various legal and policy changes, awareness-raising campaigns and advocacy. With the help of UNFPA, a specific intervention was rolled out in Hai Doung Province to tackle sex selection and measure policy efficacy. Changes in knowledge, attitude and practices (KAP) and a slight reduction in SRB in the intervention area could suggest policy efficacy if these results weren’t overshadowed by methodological shortcomings. Sex selection and son preference persist in Hai Duong and Vietnam at large. It remains to be seen whether a policy focused on awareness raising or tackling the motives of sex selection can outweigh strong medial interests to continue the practice.
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Notes
- 1.
Note that China (unlike Laos and Cambodia) has a long history of sex imbalances favoring males.
- 2.
Note that the Vietnamese government recognizes 54 Ethnic groups today, with the Viet (Kinh) being the largest group representing 86% of the total population.
- 3.
Even 40 years later, still babies are born with genetic defects, caused by Agent Orange, a chemical that was sprayed on crops by U.S. Military to destroy cover of Vietnamese guerrilla fighters.
- 4.
See Pham, Hill, Hall, and Rao (2013) for detailed accounts of 50 years of population policies in Vietnam.
- 5.
Population quality has special connotations in the Vietnamese context as shown shortly.
- 6.
Based on national Census and GSO data.
- 7.
A draft copy of the Population Law is available online (National Assembly of Vietnam, 2017).
- 8.
As a side note, the EU also launched together with UNFPA the 2016 Global Program for the Prevention of Son Preference, with Vietnam being one of the main target countries. Moreover, the EU has allocated €100 million as a conditional grant to the Government of Vietnam for a 3 year period (2015–2018). A portion of this money goes to the Ministry of Health to increase the quality of health services and subsidize health insurance premiums for the poor (EPOS Health Management, 2016).
- 9.
See e.g. drug prohibition in Newman (2002).
- 10.
Personal interview with the Director of the Hai Duong Department of Population and Family Planning. Even today couples in Hai Duong are encouraged to have no more than two children.
- 11.
Note that Mekong Economics was hired to conduct only the baseline study for the SRB component.
- 12.
Responses on cultural factors (C4) are only available for either the BLS or the ELS, but not both.
- 13.
Unlike in the ELS, respondents were given the option “It depends on the situation” in the BLS, which 18,5% of respondents in Hai Duong and 14,2% of respondents in Ha Nam chose.
- 14.
Note this type of question provokes perception biases, when being asked how a situation was in the past compared to now.
- 15.
The same statement was repeated by Ms. Ritsu Nacken, UNFPA Deputy Representative in Vietnam in September 2014 during an event titled Forum on Sharing experience of replication of Inter-generational Self Help Club (ISHC) model at the Center for Women Development in Hanoi (Nacken, 2014).
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Rahm, L. (2020). Vietnam. In: Gender-Biased Sex Selection in South Korea, India and Vietnam. Demographic Transformation and Socio-Economic Development, vol 11. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-20234-7_7
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