UN agencies urged an end to Asia’s preference for sons, saying it perpetuates discrimination and violation of women’s rights.

“Gender-biased sex selection reflects and fuels a culture of discrimination and violence, and must be addressed urgently by all segments of government and society as a matter of women’s human rights,” said five UN agencies in a joint statement.

The agencies noted that there is a “huge pressure on women to produce sons... which not only directly affects women’s reproductive decisions... but also puts women in a position where they must perpetuate the lower status of girls through son preference”.

Women can be divorced if they fail to produce boys and the discovery of female foetus can lead to its abortion, they noted.

“States have an obligation to ensure that these injustices are addressed without exposing women to the risk of death or serious injury by denying them access to needed services such as safe abortion to the full extent of the law, and other healthcare services,” said the UN agencies.

The five agencies, including Unicef, the World Health Organisation, UN Women, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the UN Population Fund, had released the statement after studying the evidence behind this preference for sons in many parts of Asia.