The Ministry of Health is seeking the Prime Minister’s approval to spend VND3 trillion (USD144 million) to support families who have only daughters in order to alleviate the gender imbalance during the 2013-2020 period.
All-daughter families to be given support
Duong Quoc Trong, Head of the General Department of Population and Family Planning, said they will give cash assistance, reduce tuition fees and other social priorities to girls from these families.
"I know this is a large figure, but it's nothing compared to the gender crisis we would encounter," he said.
Meanwhile, Dao Van Dung, Head of Social Issues Committee said, "The implementation of this policy should be weighed carefully. The preference for sons is deeply rooted in our culture, so this policy may have adverse effect, even further reducing the status of daughters. Or, on the other hand, it could be too effective and we could have a gender imbalance in the opposite direction."
However, according to Trong, many provinces have already started taking measures to help the situation by awareness campaigns about the problems gender imbalance may lead to.
Provinces such as Vinh Phuc, Phu Tho and Nam Dinh have policies that reward girls from all-daughter families who make significant achievements or do well in school.
Trong said it would take a long time to raise awareness on the matter and that in the meantime, more immediate steps must be taken.
If the problem is not addressed now, Vietnam will have 2.3-4.3 million single men in the next 20-30 years. Other countries, such as China and India, have had to deal with the effects of gender imbalance, where millions of men are unable to marry.
