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Determinants of Stated Son Preference in India: Are Men and Women Different?
Authors: Marie-Claire Robitaille
Source: Journal of Development Studies, Volume 49, Issue 5, pages 657-669; DOI: 10.1080/00220388.2012.682986
Topic(s): Sex preference
Son preference
Country: Asia
  India
Published: SEP 2013
Abstract: New sex-selective abortion technologies allow parents-to-be to implement their preference for sons more easily than in the past. With an unmet demand for sons in India, a better understanding of what leads respondents to prefer sons is important from a policy perspective. Stated son preference has seldom been studied in the past. Using data from NFHS3, I conclude that never-married women's preference for sons is strongly influenced by the financial worth of children, whereas never-married men's preference for sons is mainly influenced by non-financial reasons, including their perception of women, their religion and their caste.