The goal of this dissertation is to contribute in three ways to the literature on son preference and fertility through a comparative perspective. First, I examine the impact of son preference on fertility in China and South Korea compared with the United States. The impact that a female birth has on the likelihood of a woman having another birth is of the most concern: Women who have one or two daughter(s) as previous child(ren) are expected to be more likely to experience the hazard of having a second or a third birth. Second, my dissertation attempts to examine the effects of women’s status on son preference if women’s education reduces son preference. Third, my dissertation examines son preference and fertility in the U.S. Even though the U.S. has never shown son preference regarding sex ratios at birth, recent research has shown this association to exist among poor Hispanics. My dissertation used data from a national sample, 2002 National Survey of Family Growth. The results showed that women in China and South Korea who had a daughter instead of a son as their first child had a higher hazard of having a second birth as expected. Moreover, the results showed that the hazard ratio of having a third birth for Chinese and South Korean women was almost four and five times more, respectively. As expected, the hazard ratios for the U.S. were not significant and thus did not support the hypothesis. And the more educated women who had a daughter(s) instead of a son(s) as their previous child(ren) were less likely to have a second birth, but not in the third birth. This means women’s education apparently does not reduce son preference in the case of the third birth. Thus, women’s education apparently has limited or no influence on the childbearing decision where son preference is strong. Third, Hispanic women with low socioeconomic status did not have a significant hazard ratio of having a higher order birth. Accordingly, the dissertation does not find any statistical evidence of American son preference at the national level.

The goal of this dissertation is to contribute in three ways to the literature on son preference and fertility through a comparative perspective. First, I examine the impact of son preference on fertility in China and South Korea compared with the United States. The impact that a female birth has on the likelihood of a woman having another birth is of the most concern: Women who have one or two daughter(s) as previous child(ren) are expected to be more likely to experience the hazard of having a second or a third birth. Second, my dissertation attempts to examine the effects of women’s status on son preference if women’s education reduces son preference. Third, my dissertation examines son preference and fertility in the U.S. Even though the U.S. has never shown son preference regarding sex ratios at birth, recent research has shown this association to exist among poor Hispanics. My dissertation used data from a national sample, 2002 National Survey of Family Growth. The results showed that women in China and South Korea who had a daughter instead of a son as their first child had a higher hazard of having a second birth as expected. Moreover, the results showed that the hazard ratio of having a third birth for Chinese and South Korean women was almost four and five times more, respectively. As expected, the hazard ratios for the U.S. were not significant and thus did not support the hypothesis. And the more educated women who had a daughter(s) instead of a son(s) as their previous child(ren) were less likely to have a second birth, but not in the third birth. This means women’s education apparently does not reduce son preference in the case of the third birth. Thus, women’s education apparently has limited or no influence on the childbearing decision where son preference is strong. Third, Hispanic women with low socioeconomic status did not have a significant hazard ratio of having a higher order birth. Accordingly, the dissertation does not find any statistical evidence of American son preference at the national level.

abstract: The study of son preference in India has been the focus of research for a few decades. The desire for sons leads to unfavorable consequences for daughters such as unequal access to resources, abortion, and female infanticide. Work on men's education and son preference is relatively scarce and this dissertation contributes to existing literature by exploring this relationship from a life course perspective. I have argued that education changes men's attitudes towards son preference by encouraging them to re-evaluate traditional gender roles and that this relationship is mediated by wealth. I use the National Family and Health Survey-III to examine fertility intentions and behaviors as measures of son preference. I have found support for some of my hypotheses. The findings from three studies walk through the different phases of reproduction for the Indian man. They show that son preference manifests itself at the beginning when there are no children, is strongly present after the birth of children, and then shows itself again at the end when the man wishes to stop childbearing. Being educated leads to the preference of sons being weaker and this is perhaps due to traditional gender roles being challenged. Wealth may mediate the relationship between men's education and son preference at the beginning, but does not act as a mediator once children are born. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Sociology 2013

<p>The sex ratio at birth in China has been increasingly skewed in favor of males since 1980 when the government implemented the one-child policy to control population growth. Existing studies commonly point to economic factors and their weakening effect on the Confucian tradition of son preference to understand the male-biased sex ratio at birth; however, a perspective that heavily focuses on economic factors is limited. In this dissertation, I argue that bringing in religion – a key factor shaping individual attitudes and decisions related to son preference – can shed important light upon sex ratio at birth patterns in China.</p><p>This dissertation is divided into three empirical chapters. The first study explores religious effects on county-level sex ratios at birth using data from the 2000 China Population Census and the 2004 China Economic Census. Findings reveal that greater Daoist presence is associated with more imbalanced sex ratios in the county, while the presence of Islamic and Buddhist places of worship helps mitigate male-biased sex ratios. Study two askes how religious groups vary in their preferences for sons and sex selection decisions using data from the 2010 Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS). Findings suggest that Christians stand out for their weak son preference and refrain from sex selection, while Daoists hold strong son preference and more likely to practice sex selection to have many sons. The last study uses the CGSS data to explore whether religion shapes abortion attitudes among Chinese people. It shows that Islam and Christianity have a strong influence on the disapproval of abortion, and while affiliating with Daoism does not affect one’s approval of abortion, living in a neighborhood with more Daoists significantly reduces one’s approval of abortion.</p><div><p>These studies together demonstrate that religion is an important factor shaping not only individual attitudes and behaviors but also demographic trends in society. This dissertation serves as the first study that investigates the linkage between religion and demographic trends by examining how religion – both individual religious affiliation and religious context in a locality – affects the sex ratio at birth via shaping individual son preferences, sex selection decisions, and abortion attitudes. By highlighting religion – a factor that has been overlooked in demographic studies of China – this study contributes to a more nuanced understanding of imbalanced sex ratios and its determinants.</p></div><p></p>

This thesis studies the relationship between a skewed sex ratio and female empowerment in India. The study uses cross-sectional survey data from 2015-16, defining empowerment with an index that compiles questions directed toward women regarding if they have been subjected to violence and violations by their husbands or partners. We investigate if there is a negative relationship between sex ratio and the empowerment index by examining previous studies as well as conducting a multivariable regression analysis. The results show a statistically significant negative relationship at the 5% significance level when controlling for son preference, wealth index, education, habit of reading the news, and identification as Hindu and Muslim respectively. Furthermore, we find that a negative correlation persists when separately performing the regression for the wealth index levels “middle” and “richer”. Although statistically significant, the coefficients are relatively small and the economic significance of the results is hence debatable.

This thesis aims to study and compare gender discrimination in terms of son preferences in Kerala and Uttar Pradesh in India. It also aims to explain how son preferences appears in these states. This study uses Judith Butler’s (2007) and Yvonne Hirdman’s (2001) gender theories to explain the gender discrimination in the different states. Research shows that the son preference in India is strongly permeated in many parts of the country. This is mainly due to the deep-rooted patriarchal system that exists in India. The results show that this is particularly prominent in Uttar Pradesh than in Kerala. Previous research and the existing theories show that the strong son preferences that exists in the Indian society results in many women and young girls being discriminated. Through the gender perspective, this can be explained by the social constructions that are created in society. There are social and cultural norms and an unchanging cultural law that has been passed on for generations, where the roles of men and women in society are constructed and implemented. The social press on women, from both society and families to give birth to sons, leads to many devastating consequences and adversities for both women and young girls.

This thesis examines demographic manifestations of son preference in three parts. Part I develops a simulation model that formalises the decision to practice prenatal sex selection through a "ready, willing and able" framework. The model is calibrated to South Korean and Indian sex ratio at birth (SRB) trajectories. Simulations reveal how SRB distortions in both countries have emerged despite declining son preference due to the rapid diusion of ultrasound combined with growing propensities to abort as a result of weakening norms for large families. Part II examines the potential role of big data to indirectly estimate the SRB at the subnational level in India. States with distorted SRBs tend to display a relatively high Google search activity for ultrasound. SRB "now-casts" generated using search volumes perform better than lagged variable models in high birth registration states. Part III examines the relationship between prenatal sex selection and postnatal excess female child mortality in two studies. The first applies lifetable techniques to decompose population changes in child sex ratios into a fertility component attributable to prenatal sex selection and a mortality component attributable to sex-differentials in postnatal survival. This study finds that although reductions in numbers of excess female deaths have accompanied increases in "missing" female births in all countries experiencing SRB distortions, excess female mortality has persisted in some but not in others. The second study uses birth histories of the Demographic and Health Surveys for six countries that have witnessed SRB distortions - India, Nepal, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Albania - to examine if differential mortality change by sex can be explained by the uptake of prenatal sex selection. This study finds that changes in prenatal sex selection only explain mortality change in India. Across all countries, although patterns of mortality disadvantage are concentrated amongst less educated mothers, prenatal sex selection is strongest among the better educated. Differential sorting into the two behaviours offers an explanation for why the effect for prenatal sex selection is generally weak.

Plusieurs chercheurs ont constaté un déséquilibre démographique important (ratio homme/femme) en Inde du Nord-Ouest qui serait l’une des conséquences directe de la sélection sexuelle prénatale engendrée par forte préférence pour la naissance des garçons. Dans les villes de Jaipur (Rajasthan) et Gurgaon (Haryana), auprès de femmes mariées issues de milieux socio-économiques aisés, j’ai tenté de comprendre comment les femmes vivent au quotidien la préférence pour les garçons et d’explorer pourquoi elles reproduisent ces préférences et discriminations envers garçons et filles dans leurs pratiques reproductives. Le recours à la sélection sexuelle semble résoudre de nombreuses tensions produites par les interactions entre les changements économiques, l’intensification de la planification familiale, l’accessibilité aux technologies de la santé reproductive et les attentes filiales de la famille. Bien que les femmes subissent de la pression familiale pour concevoir un fils, elles peuvent désirer pour elles-mêmes la naissance de fils, une préférence influencée par la construction identitaire de genre qui associe l’achèvement de la féminité à travers les rôles d’épouse et la maternité de fils. Les pressions pour la naissance d’un garçon émaneraient tout autant des structures sociales que de l’environnement familial immédiat. / Demographers have recorded a very important unbalanced sex-ratio (men/women) in North-Western India that would be the direct consequence of prenatal sex-selection caused by a strong son preference. In Jaipur (Rajasthan) and Gurgaon (Haryana), I interviewed married women from well-off backgrounds and in attempt to understand the presence of son preference and daughter discrimination in their everyday lives. The use of sex-selection seems to resolve several tensions produced by the interactions between economic changes, family-planning intensification, availability of reproductive technologies and kinship expectations from the family. Although women experience family pressure to conceive a son, they can also desire a son for themselves; gender identity construction influences the idea that women can achieve femininity and be accomplished through their roles as spouse and mother of a son. Pressure to give birth to a son comes from the structures as well as the immediate family environment.

Ce mémoire regroupe différentes études sur la préférence pour les garçons au Pakistan. Celles-ci analysent la fréquence et l'étendue de la préférence pour les garçons et son effet sur la grossesse des femmes. Le rôle que la préférence pour les garçons joue sur la participation des femmes au niveau des décisions au sein du ménage est examiné, tout comme son effet sur l'espacement des naissances, la probabilité d'une naissance à risque, ou l'impact de l'âge auquel une femme se marie sur l'équilibre entre les sexes et le développement de l'enfant né. Nous trouvons qu'il existe une préférence réelle et déclarée pour la progéniture masculine au Pakistan. La probabilité de poursuivre les grossesses diminue avec le nombre de garçons nés. De plus, les femmes qui ont au moins un garcon ont plus d'influence sur les décisions quotidiennes du ménage mais pas sur les décisions financières. La participation des femmes sur les décisions à prendre au sein du ménage augmente avec le nombre de garçons mais seulement jusqu'à la troisième naissance. D'ailleurs, les femmes ayant au moins un garçon attendent plus longtemps avant d'avoir d'autres enfants. Ce constat est plus particulièrement vrai dans le cadre d'une première naissance et il est moins présent à partir de la deuxième naissance. En outre, le fait de se marier à 18 ans ou plus tard influence de façon positive la préférence des femmes sur la composition de sa famille. Pourtant, peu importe qu’une femme se marie avant ou après 18 ans, cela ne modifie pas le biais en faveur des garçons dans leur investissement parental. A partir de ces résultats, nous proposons des préconisations politiques afin de lutter contre les inégalités entre les sexes au Pakistan. / This thesis is a collection of studies on son preference in Pakistan. The studies analyze the prevalence and strength of son preference and its effects on women’s childbearing. The role son preference plays in determining women's participation in intra-household decisionmaking is examined as are its effect on birth spacing, probability of risky births and role of maternal age at marriage in modifying gender-specific reproduction and development outcomes. We find strong evidence for both the revealed and stated preference for male offspring. The probability of continuing childbearing also decreases with the number of sons born. Furthermore, we find that women with at least one son have more say in ‘routine’ household decisions but not in financial decisions. Female participation in decision-making grows significantly with the number of sons but only up to the third parity. We find that women with at least one son are more likely to delay succeeding births. We obtain strong evidence at parity 1. The impact seems to dissipate beyond the second parity. Moreover, we find that marriage at 18 or later positively influence women’s preference for family’s sex composition. However, whether or not a woman married early or late does little to modify the male gender bias prevalent in parental investment. In light of these findings, we suggest policy measures that could help improve gender equity in the country.