Does sex of children matter? Implications for fertility in Pakistan.
Preference for children of either sex is considered a constraint on fertility decline as it induces many couples to keep adding on surviving children in the hope of having a desired sex composition of children. However, preferences for children of a particular sex may differ in relation to demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of women, traditional values and cultural practices, such as propagating a family name, providing economic advantages, and obtaining a medium of social and economic security in times of illness, unemployment and old age. Utilizing the Pakistan Integrated Household Survey (2001-02), this paper aims at investigating the existence of sex preference and examines sex preference differentials by different attributes of women in Pakistan. The results reveal that there is a desire to have another child in the presence of all children of one sex, either sons or daughters. The desire to have a son with only or mostly daughters, however, is stronger than the desire to have a daughter with only or mostly sons. This behaviour will retard fertility decline unless there is a shift in the desire to have children of both sexes in Pakistan.
Muhammad
Ali
A
Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Prince Edward Island, Charlottetown, Canada.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003469:Culture; D003625:Data Collection; D005193:Family Planning Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D005298:Fertility / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010154:Pakistan; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012732:Sex Determination Analysis / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012737:Sex Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D055815:Young Adult