Solutions to Vietnam’s horrendously skewed gender ratio were put on the table at a national conference about gender imbalance in Hanoi on November 3.

Teachers at a kindergarten in Le Chan District, Hai Phong City are finding it more difficult to manage classes with more boys than girls. Photo by Lao Dong.

Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Viet Tien said "Since 2006, the gender imbalance between males and females has been on the rise. According to statistic released on April 1, for every 100 females, 112.3 males were born."

Neighbouring countries such as South Korea or China have already succumbed to biased gender selection and already 'import' brides every year.

If the government does not intervene, the imbalance could increase and lead to many social problems, and Vietnam may have to bear even heavier consequences.

"The immediate impacts would be a rise of illegal human trafficking. Females will be fought for and will have to marry early." Dr. Duong Quoc Trong, Head of the General Office for Population and Family Planning said.

Dr. Christophe Guilmoto, an expert from the United Nations Population Fund said that although the gender imbalance in Vietnam had occurred later than in neighbouring countries, the gender imbalance had dramatically increased while the ratio in Japan, Thailand or Philippine had remained the same.

Guilmoto said the reduction in the birth rate and smaller family size had combined with Vietnamese prejudices in favour of boy children.

Nguyen Thi Kha, Standing member of National Assembly's Social Affairs Committee said many people had exploited technology to abort girls via gender selection. This had continued to happen despite Vietnam’s ban on gender selection in 2003. However many medical facilities continued to pass on the information via comments such as "The baby looks a lot like mother" or "The baby is very strong" or "very sweet and gentle."

Furthermore, many women are continued to be pressured to have a son to carry on the family surnames.

Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan said discrimination in favour of males and lax punishment on gender selection had made the problem grow.

Deputy Chairwoman of the Vietnam Women's Union Tran Thanh Binh proposed to raise awareness about gender equality, focusing on young couples.

Dr. Duong Quoc Trong, head of the General Office for Population and Family Planning said the Ministry of Health could not single-handedly tackle the issue but needed co-operation from every agency.

He said the Ministry of Health would draft a report on the conference results and ask for co-operation from other agencies such as the Ministry of Education and Training, the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, Vietnam Women's Union.