The fear of having two sons: a noteworthy preference for the gender of children

Abstract

This paper argues that “the fear of having two sons” is a gender structure phenomenon that causes anxiety for some Chinese families. To prove the existence of such a fear in some families, this paper considers three aspects: the ideal gender structure of children, women’s childbearing plan for second children and their actual childbearing behavior. Data for nine provinces is taken from the China Fertility Survey of 2017. This paper finds that: (1) except for having no children, 2 sons and 0 daughters is the most undesired gender structure; (2) among those who expect 1 son and 1 daughter, women whose first child is a son are less likely to plan to have a second child than those whose first child is a daughter; (3) among those who expect 1 son and 1 daughter, women with a son as the first child are less likely to have a second child than those with a daughter. These findings prove that, at present, the phenomenon of the fear of having two sons does exist in some Chinese families. Finally, this paper summarizes how the attitudes of Chinese families towards having sons have changed since the 1950s from “a hope for having many sons” to “a desire for at least one son” and finally to “the fear of having two sons.” The paper also discusses the significance of the fear of having two sons phenomenon in terms of improving the proximate determinants of low fertility model.