Rahm Laura et Becquet Valentine (2014) « Public Policy Response to Sex Selection and Sex Imbalance in Asia with a special focus on Vietnam » (communication orale), présenté à Les politiques de population : Le Caire + 20, programme ARCUS, CERPOS, CEPED, IPSS (Université Paris 10 Nanterre), Nanterre.
Résumé : Prenatal sex selection has become a critical public policy concern in Asia. The practice of selectively aborting female fetuses has resulted in a severe demographic shift towards masculinization with over 117 million “missing” women in Asia today. Known factors of sex selection correspond to entrenched son preference, low fertility and access to new sex selection technologies. Potential consequences include increases in human trafficking, violence against women, forced marriages, marriage migrations, and political unrest. The policy response has been in most countries quite belated for reasons related to the lack of statistical confirmation or to political reluctance. But China, India, Nepal, South Korea, and
Vietnam have all banned sex selective abortions and sex determination. Yet, despite these
bans, sex ratio at birth (SRB) has increased or remains high in these countries. Additional public policies have been introduced to alter the status of women (gender mainstreaming, equity laws) and increase the perceived value of daughters (conditional cash transfers). There is now a large gamut of policy initiatives related to prenatal sex selection introduced in various countries or regions, but limited evidence on their overall impact on SRB trends.
Mots-clés : Asia, POLITIQUE PUBLIQUE, sex imbalances, sex ratio at birth, sex selection, Vietnam.