HANOI, October 20th 2021 – A virtual photo and painting exhibition is opened today as part of the celebration of the Viet Nam Women’s Day to raise the awareness of Gender Biased Sex Selection, to stop son preference and to honor the roles and the values of women and girls in the family and in the society, thus stimulating a change in everyone’s attitudes and behaviors towards gender-biased sex selection.
The virtual exhibition entitled “Girls deserve to shine” displays 65 photos and paintings selected from nearly 380 entries from photographers and painters from 23 provinces and cities, and will last until 5th December 2021. The exhibition reflects different perspectives, the true stories about the daily lives of grandmothers, mothers, sisters, female doctors, nurses, and many more at different ages, and with different jobs and roles. These women and girls always make efforts and devote themselves to the happiness of the family and the development of the communities. It is time to have a fairer view that women and men have their own values and roles, and are able to contribute to the family and society equally. Everybody regardless of gender or age, job or social position deserves to be recognized and appreciated for their values and contributions to this life.
The exhibition is organized by the Center for Studies and Applied Sciences in Gender – Family – Women and Adolescents (CSAGA), with technical and financial support from The Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) and United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)
Ms. Naomi Kitahara, the UNFPA Representative for Vietnam said: “We trust that the virtual exhibition will increase the public knowledge about the negative impact of Gender Biased Sex Selection. Girls must enjoy the rights and opportunities just like boys. ‘Girls deserve to shine’.”
For her part, Ms. Van Anh, the Director of CSAGA said “The virtual exhibition is a new form of communication in Vietnam, especially in the Covid-19 context. Through this exhibition, we hope people and couples, especially young couples will appreciate the value of women and girls, giving girls a chance to be born naturally because every girl deserves to be recognized and appreciated.”
To visit the online exhibition, please check here
Note to Editors:
The notion that a girl is another people’s child and that only a boy can continue the lineage and worship ancestors is still deeply rooted in the mind of many Vietnamese people. If the couple does not have a son, they will not be respected by their family members and neighbors. Because the girls will stay at their husband's houses when they get married, the parents are also worried that there will be no one to take care of them when they are old, and no one to worship when they die. Each family usually has only 1-2 children, so if the fetus is a girl, many couples tend to terminate pregnancy, in order to expect a boy for the next birth. The girls have no chance to be born.
According to Vietnam population and Housing census in 2019, if compared the sex ratio at birth to the natural childbirth, Vietnam is missing about 45,900 girls every year. Specifically, for every 100 girls born, there are 111.5 boys born in Viet Nam against what is considered to be “natural” at 105 - 106 boys/ 100 girls. Vietnam’s sex ratio at birth is the third highest after China and India. This situation has persisted for many years since 2004. Scientists call this fact: Sex imbalances at birth, and if this situation is not corrected, it is estimated that there will be 1.5 million excess men by 2034, and 2.5 million by 2059.
Organizers information:
UNFPA Viet Nam: https://www.facebook.com/unfpa.vietnam
CS
For more information, please contact:
Nguyen Hoang Anh (Ms.)
Email: hoanganh@csaga.org.vn
Phone: 091 513 5597
