A Cultured and Happy Family: A Minor Field Study on the Correlation Between the Implementation of the Vietnamese Family Planning Policy and the Prevalence of Son Preference
(2014) JURM02 20142Department of Law
- Abstract (Swedish)
- Vietnam har sedan den socialistiska revolutionen på mitten av 1900-tlaet arbetat aktivt för jämställdhet mellan kvinnor och män. Sedan 1982 är Vietnam part till Konventionen om avskaffande av all slags diskriminering av kvinnor (CEDAW). Patriarkala strukturer influerade av konfucianismen lever dock vidare, och det vietnamesiska samhället är än idag starkt präglat av sociala hierarkier mellan könen. Sådana könsstereotypa strukturer är särskilt ihärdiga inom familjens domän.
Sedan 1960-talet har Vietnam implementerat en familjeplaneringspolicy. Denna policy har påverkat förutsättningarna för det dagliga livet för vietnamesiska familjer, och utgör ett omfattande statligt ingrepp inom individens familje- och privatliv. Denna uppsats... (More) - Vietnam har sedan den socialistiska revolutionen på mitten av 1900-tlaet arbetat aktivt för jämställdhet mellan kvinnor och män. Sedan 1982 är Vietnam part till Konventionen om avskaffande av all slags diskriminering av kvinnor (CEDAW). Patriarkala strukturer influerade av konfucianismen lever dock vidare, och det vietnamesiska samhället är än idag starkt präglat av sociala hierarkier mellan könen. Sådana könsstereotypa strukturer är särskilt ihärdiga inom familjens domän.
Sedan 1960-talet har Vietnam implementerat en familjeplaneringspolicy. Denna policy har påverkat förutsättningarna för det dagliga livet för vietnamesiska familjer, och utgör ett omfattande statligt ingrepp inom individens familje- och privatliv. Denna uppsats utforskar den vietnamesiska familjeplaneringspolitikens effekter på jämställdhet mellan kvinnor och män, och utforskar om utformningen av den nuvarande Vietnamesiska familjeplaneringspolicyn är förenlig med Vietnams skyldigheter enligt CEDAW. Mer exakt besvaras denna frågeställning genom en analys av möjliga samband mellan implementeringen av den vietnamesiska familjeplaneringspolicyn och förekomsten av preferens för söner.
Att familjer föredrar söner framför döttrar är ett utbrett fenomen i Vietnam. Den grundläggande orsaken till detta fenomen är ett patrilineärt strukturerat samhälle, i vilket söner värderas högre än döttrar. Under de senaste åren har denna önskan bland familjer att föda en son tagit nya uttryck, och Vietnam upplever för närvarande en ökande obalans i den nationella könsbalansen bland nyfödda. Svaga insatser från staten för att genomdriva förbud mot prenatal könselektion, i kombination med en återupplivning av traditionella värden som initierats av staten på 1980-talet, har genererat en regression i arbetet för jämställdhet mellan kvinnor och män i Vietnam. Det kvinnoideal som för närvarande propageras av staten förstärker de könsstereotyper som ligger bakom de sociala strukturer som genererat preferens för söner.
Den nuvarande utvecklingen i implementeringen av den vietnamesiska familjeplaneringspolitiken strider mot Vietnams skyldigheter enligt CEDAW. De grundläggande skyldigheter som fastställs i artiklarna 1-5 CEDAW stipulerar statens ansvar att bekämpa genusstereotypa strukturer och säkerställa implementeringen av principen om icke-diskriminering i den nationella rättsordningen. Den nuvarande implementeringen av familjeplaneringspolicyn förstärker genusstrukturer på bekostnad av kvinnors mänskliga rättigheter, och ser mellan fingrarna på den utbredda praxis av prenatal könsselektion som utförs inom en vinstdriven vårdsektor. (Less) - Abstract
- The State of Vietnam has worked actively against inequality between women and men since the early days of the socialist revolution in the mid-twentieth century. Vietnam is since 1982 State Party to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). However, patriarchal structures influenced by Confucian ideology remain strong in present-day Vietnamese society. Such gender stereotyped structures are especially persistent within the realm of family life.
Since the 1960s, Vietnam has implemented a family planning policy. These policies have altered the preconditions of the family life of Vietnamese families, and constitute an extensive State intervention in the ambit of family life and the private life... (More) - The State of Vietnam has worked actively against inequality between women and men since the early days of the socialist revolution in the mid-twentieth century. Vietnam is since 1982 State Party to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). However, patriarchal structures influenced by Confucian ideology remain strong in present-day Vietnamese society. Such gender stereotyped structures are especially persistent within the realm of family life.
Since the 1960s, Vietnam has implemented a family planning policy. These policies have altered the preconditions of the family life of Vietnamese families, and constitute an extensive State intervention in the ambit of family life and the private life of the individual. This thesis explores the impact and consequences of the Vietnamese family planning policies on equality between women and men, and explores the concurrence between the formulation of the current Vietnamese family planning policy and the State obligations of Vietnam under the CEDAW. More precisely, this question is answered through an analysis of the possible correlation between the implementation of the Vietnamese family planning policy and the prevalence of son preference.
Son preference is a widespread phenomenon in Vietnam. The root cause of this phenomenon is a predominant patrifocal kinship structure, highly valuing the birth of sons. In recent years, the desire of families to have a son has taken new expressions, and Vietnam is currently experiencing an increased imbalance in the national Sex Ratio at Birth. This is an alarming development for the status of gender equality in Vietnam.
Feeble efforts of the State to enforce prohibitions on prenatal sex selection and inconsistency in the implementation of national legislation prohibiting discrimination against women, in combination with a revitalisation of Vietnamese traditional cultural values initiated by the State in the 1980s, has generated a regression in the efforts for equality between women and men in Vietnam. The ideal femininity currently propagated by the State through the family planning policy and the family planning campaigns revitalises a traditional Vietnamese female ideal, reinforcing the very gender stereotypes underlying the social structures generating preference for sons.
The current development in the implementation of the Vietnamese family planning policy is inconsistent with the State obligations of Vietnam under the CEDAW. The core obligations set out in Articles 1-5 CEDAW stipulate a responsibility of the State to combat gendered social structures and ensure the enforceability of provisions of non-discrimination under the domestic legal system. The current implementation of the family planning policy reinforces gendered structures detrimental to the enjoyment of human rights of women, and turns a blind eye to the practices of prenatal sex selection performed by a profit driven health care sector. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/4905305
- author
- Johansson, Emma LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- JURM02 20142
- year
- 2014
- type
- H3 - Professional qualifications (4 Years - )
- subject
- keywords
- Folkrätt, Public International Law, Mänskliga Rättigheter, Human Rights Law, Vietnam.
- language
- English
- id
- 4905305
- date added to LUP
- 2015-02-03 10:53:31
- date last changed
- 2015-02-03 10:53:31
@misc{4905305,
abstract = {{The State of Vietnam has worked actively against inequality between women and men since the early days of the socialist revolution in the mid-twentieth century. Vietnam is since 1982 State Party to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). However, patriarchal structures influenced by Confucian ideology remain strong in present-day Vietnamese society. Such gender stereotyped structures are especially persistent within the realm of family life.
Since the 1960s, Vietnam has implemented a family planning policy. These policies have altered the preconditions of the family life of Vietnamese families, and constitute an extensive State intervention in the ambit of family life and the private life of the individual. This thesis explores the impact and consequences of the Vietnamese family planning policies on equality between women and men, and explores the concurrence between the formulation of the current Vietnamese family planning policy and the State obligations of Vietnam under the CEDAW. More precisely, this question is answered through an analysis of the possible correlation between the implementation of the Vietnamese family planning policy and the prevalence of son preference.
Son preference is a widespread phenomenon in Vietnam. The root cause of this phenomenon is a predominant patrifocal kinship structure, highly valuing the birth of sons. In recent years, the desire of families to have a son has taken new expressions, and Vietnam is currently experiencing an increased imbalance in the national Sex Ratio at Birth. This is an alarming development for the status of gender equality in Vietnam.
Feeble efforts of the State to enforce prohibitions on prenatal sex selection and inconsistency in the implementation of national legislation prohibiting discrimination against women, in combination with a revitalisation of Vietnamese traditional cultural values initiated by the State in the 1980s, has generated a regression in the efforts for equality between women and men in Vietnam. The ideal femininity currently propagated by the State through the family planning policy and the family planning campaigns revitalises a traditional Vietnamese female ideal, reinforcing the very gender stereotypes underlying the social structures generating preference for sons.
The current development in the implementation of the Vietnamese family planning policy is inconsistent with the State obligations of Vietnam under the CEDAW. The core obligations set out in Articles 1-5 CEDAW stipulate a responsibility of the State to combat gendered social structures and ensure the enforceability of provisions of non-discrimination under the domestic legal system. The current implementation of the family planning policy reinforces gendered structures detrimental to the enjoyment of human rights of women, and turns a blind eye to the practices of prenatal sex selection performed by a profit driven health care sector.}},
author = {{Johansson, Emma}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{A Cultured and Happy Family: A Minor Field Study on the Correlation Between the Implementation of the Vietnamese Family Planning Policy and the Prevalence of Son Preference}},
year = {{2014}},
}