In many Asian countries, the majority of people prefer to have sons rather than daughters. What are the causes of this phenomenon? What effects does it have?

The feeling of having a baby seems to be a sheer delight for couples around the world. However, for some Asian parents, welcoming a newborn to the family is not a fully comfortable experience because of the traditional apprehension that it is highly preferable to have a baby boy rather than a girl. That feudalistic belief has been deeply ingrained in the minds of Eastern people and has created many adverse effects on society and women in particular. In fact, there are many causes which lead to parents’ leaning towards sons. To begin with, the majority of men seem to be physically stronger than women. Therefore, males were more capable of carrying out a lot of heavy fieldwork such as ploughing, fetching water or chopping wood. This phenomenon is obviously popular in most Asian agrarian countries where people earn their incomes mainly from farming. In addition, our unconscious bias is originally affected by deep-seated traditional ideologies. In Asian patriarchal society, boys are considered to play an absolute role in continuing the generation tree because the bloodline only passes through the male side. Besides, after their wedding, girls are not allowed to stay at their own house to take care of their parents. Some might suppose that a daughter, as a result, is unable to fulfill filial duty herself. Preference over male babies has so far left behind a number of negative impacts. One noticeable impact is that the women themselves are directly affected under this form of sex discrimination. Firstly, the female babies are likely to grow up feeling belittled, as it is assumed that they have no rights to air their feelings or opinions against disdainful comments made by other family members. Moreover, if the society show such favoritism towards males, females will be made decidedly inferior and can easily fall victim to inhumane crimes such as intimidation and sexual assault, which result in either physical or mental disorders. Not only does this gender bias leave a devastating effect on women, it is also a multifaceted problem for society as a whole. Noticeably, in many countries, this has led to gender imbalance in a wide range of social circumstances. The workplace is a prime example, where men far outnumber women, especially in such fields as Information Technology or Engineering. What is also striking is that the community’s gravitating towards boys also leads to a host of unjustified actions. The thirst for male children has lured many couples into sex-selective abortion, although it is regarded as illegal and inhumane to do so in many countries including Vietnam. On top of that, people also lay their trust in superstitious practices to seek for a boy, but these are found to be harmful and merely unscientific. In conclusion, men’s physical advantages over women as well as society’s deep-rooted beliefs have made sons seem an allegedly better choice for Asian parents. More attention should be paid for this phenomenon since there are countless consequences both on society and the women themselves. However, life has changed, and as this practice has no longer been as dire as they used to be, women are also starting to claim what they truly deserve.