Parents in many low- and middle income countries tend to prefer sons

The relative value of sons and daughters is a reflection of gender asymmetries in a society. When most parents prefer sons, it is an indication of a strong presence of patriarchal norms. A widespread desire to have more sons than daughters can also create considerable demographic challenges. In countries such as Albania and Montenegro, where sex-selective abortions have been common since the 1990s, the skewed gender composition of the population has become a concern.

”Simply speaking, there is a large proportion of men who never get married. This is of course a social problem,” says Konstantin Kazenin, newly graduated PhD in demography.

Women's preferences have more impact

Besides gender-selective abortions, there is another distinct reproductive behaviour that signals son preference, namely when couples keep expanding their families until they have a son. This behaviour was the subject of Konstantin Kazenin’s study.

By analysing data from the Demographic and Health Survey conducted in 45 countries between 2010 and 2021, Konstantin Kazenin examined how parents’ desire to have one more child is affected by the sex composition of their existing children. He found that women’s preferences have more impact on decisions to continue childbearing, which aligns with increasing gender equality in those countries. At the same time, the study shows that in many countries where women's preferences are decisive, women still tend to prefer having more sons than daughters.

"Some things change and some things remain stable"

The study also looked into actual birth outcomes, specifically how having no sons influenced giving birth to one more child. For this, Konstantin Kazenin selected eight low- and middle-income countries where there is available data for women born between the early 1950s and the late 1980s.

During these forty years, their societies underwent dramatic social changes due to urbanisation. As people moved from rural communities to cities, women’s educational levels and labour market participation increased. Traditional rural practices that previously made having sons more practical, such as younger sons remaining near their parents, became less common in urban settings. One might therefore expect that these developments would have increased the perceived value of daughters.

However, Konstantin Kazenin’s study shows that the preference to have sons actually increased over time. Compared to the women in the oldest cohort, those who were born in the 1980s were more likely to progress to a third child if they didn’t have any sons. 

”This illustrates the complexity of social changes. Some things change, and some remain stable,” says Konstantin Kazenin.

How, then, should policy makers address skewed gender preferences when they are a problem? According to Konstantin Kazenin, general policies aimed at promoting gender equality are not sufficient.

”Instead, we need to look more deeply into the preconditions of gender preferences in the particular country. Women may have the primary role in decisions about having children, but they find it most important to have sons. Reasons for this need further study”.

The thesis

The theis "Son preference in time and space" is available in DiVA.