Abstract
Society ascribes roles and expectations for people based on their sex. When the costs and benefits of each sex are different, people may have different motivations for having sons or daughters because children of different sexes are not substitutable. Sex preferences may then increase fertility, as women and couples who pursue a certain sex composition may progress to additional births. To understand how the social structure has been shaping sex preferences and fertility ideals, it is important to identify the characteristics of women with different preferences. Using responses to questions about an ideal number of children and their sex composition available in the Brazilian Demographic Health Survey of 1996 and 2006, this paper provides evidence that a balanced sex preference exists among most Brazilians; some evidence of a secondary daughter preference is also found. Evidence also shows that “gender indifference” has become more pronounced as fertility declines.
Highlights
While 47% of mothers with two children of different sexes would have a third birth, for those with either two girls or two boys, the percentage having a third birth would go up to 51%
On a global scale, when one thinks about sex preferences, the first thing that comes to mind is the odd sex ratio that some countries are facing in recent decades due to the widespread practice of sex selection
This behavior deserves further consideration in future studies to elucidate whether having a daughter is more versatile than having a son
Summary
On a global scale, when one thinks about sex preferences, the first thing that comes to mind is the odd sex ratio that some countries are facing in recent decades due to the widespread practice of sex selection. While in the neonatal period the mortality of boys is usually higher everywhere in the world, in countries with son preference and sex selection, the girls’ mortality surpasses the boys’ mortality in the post-neonatal period and remains higher during and after the first year of life, showing that social causes are affecting girls’ survival. Discrimination is shown by differences in breastfeeding, food allocation (quality and quantity), proper clothing, parental surveil-. Discrimination is reflected in lower rates of school attendance rates for girls. In some countries in South Asia, the number of “missing girls” is reported to be close to 10%
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