SON PREFERENCE: SEX-SELECTIVE ABORTION AND DETERMINANTS OF SEX OF THE LAST BIRTH IN VIETNAM

Son preference is a long-standing culture in Vietnam, which is related to patriarchal values derived from traditional Confucian system where sons are perceived as important status symbols, indispensible elements of the perpetuation of the family name and guarantors of the continuing worship of ancestors, as well as family and old age major supports. In tandem with the low fertility and the availability of sex selection technologies, the sex ratio at birth in Vietnam has dramatically increased since 1999, thus alarming a sharp increase in the number of missing girls before birth due to sex-selective abortions. This study aimed to provide numerical evidence of abortions due to sex selection and explanatory factors associated with having sons in Vietnam. The objective of this study is two-fold. The first fold is to estimate the number of sex-selective abortions during 1999-2009. The second fold is to examine the determinants of the sex of the last birth. With respect to the first fold, the study adopted the Reverse Survival method and used the data from the 2009 Vietnam Census and the 1999 WHO’s Life table. It was found that there were 217,902 abortion cases due to sex selection between 1999 and 2009 in Vietnam. Moreover, this figure nearly doubled from 74,179 to 143,723 for 1999-2004 and for 2005-2009 respectively, even though the national regulation on sex-selective abortion was initiated in 2003. Regarding to the second fold, the secondary data from Vietnam Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) in 2011 was employed to examine the determinants of the sex of the last birth. It was found that there were significant associations between the sex of the last birth and religion, parity excluding the last birth, having a son before the last birth, and family wealth. Among others, having no son before the last birth was the strongest factor. Based on the study results, three policy recommendations were proposed. These included strengthening the monitoring system for sex-selective abortion, establishing community-based intervention programs to females to change the attitude and the practice of the society toward partial role and son preference, and encouraging women’s empowerment and gender equality in all spheres of life.