Debunking Myths About Male Child Preference in Indian Society

For over a century, India’s census has revealed a persistent gender imbalance that reflects deeply rooted cultural attitudes toward male children. The preference for sons over daughters remains one of the most significant social challenges affecting Indian families today. With an abnormal sex ratio of 110 boys born for every 100 girls, India demonstrates how traditional beliefs continue to shape family decisions in profound ways.

Cultural roots of son preference 🔗

The desire for male children in Indian society stems from a complex web of religious, economic, and social traditions. These factors work together to create a strong perceived need for sons while devaluing daughters.

Religious significance of sons 🔗

In Hindu tradition, sons hold unique religious responsibilities that daughters cannot fulfill. According to Hindu beliefs, only sons can light the funeral pyre and perform last rites for their parents, which is considered essential for the deceased to reach salvation. Survey data shows that approximately 63% of Indians believe sons should have primary responsibility for funeral rites, while only 1% believe daughters should perform these duties.

This religious dimension helps explain why upper castes, who tend to follow religious ceremonies more strictly, show more skewed sex ratios than lower castes. The sex ratio for the four highest castes reaches 110 males per 100 female births, compared to 108 for the lowest caste.

Economic burdens and patrilocality 🔗

The practice of patrilocality, where married couples live with or near the husband’s family, creates powerful economic incentives for having sons. Parents expect sons to provide financial and emotional care in old age, while daughters traditionally join their husband’s household after marriage. This system makes investment in daughters seem like a loss to the family.

The dowry system intensifies this economic pressure. In late 20th century rural India, 94% of bridal families paid dowries averaging three to eight times the annual male income, or about two-thirds of household assets. Despite legal efforts to curb dowries, they remain nearly universal and represent a significant financial burden for families with daughters.

This economic reality is captured in a common Indian saying that raising a daughter is comparable to watering your neighbor’s garden. Research confirms that patrilocality is the single common factor in countries with highly skewed sex ratios. In India, Northern states with stronger patrilocal traditions show sex ratios of 111 boys per 100 girls, compared to 108 in the South.

How modernization is shifting gender expectations 🔗

While traditional attitudes persist, economic development and social changes are gradually transforming gender preferences in India. Education and evolving family structures are challenging long-held beliefs about the necessity of sons.

The role of women’s education 🔗

Education emerges as the single most significant factor in reducing son preference. Research from the International Center for Research on Women found that maternal education level directly correlates with reduced son preference. Women with primary schooling show less preference for sons than those with no education, while women with secondary and higher education demonstrate even weaker son preference.

This shift occurs because educated women gain access to employment opportunities, reducing their dependence on sons for old-age security. Education also helps women challenge social norms and make independent reproductive decisions. Community-level education matters too, as women in villages with higher female literacy show less son preference, even after controlling for individual education levels.

Changing family structures 🔗

The transition from joint to nuclear families is gradually weakening traditional support systems that relied heavily on sons. As families become smaller and more economically independent, the absolute necessity of having multiple sons for security diminishes. Recent data shows son preference declining from 33% of women wanting more sons than daughters in 1998-1999 to just 15% in 2019-2021.

However, this demographic transition creates a paradox. While desire for sons may be decreasing overall, smaller family sizes actually intensify sex selection among those who still prefer sons. When couples want only two children instead of four or five, they feel greater pressure to ensure at least one is male, leading to increased sex-selective abortion.

The hidden costs of gender discrimination 🔗

Son preference creates severe consequences for daughters who are born and the mothers who bear them. These effects ripple through health, education, and long-term development outcomes.

Health disparities and survival 🔗

Girls in India face discrimination from their earliest days. Up to one million fetuses are sex-selectively aborted each year, creating millions of missing women in India’s population. Between 1970 and 2020, India accounted for 40.3 million of the 142 million women and girls missing worldwide due to son preference.

For girls who are born, discrimination continues through unequal healthcare access. Research shows that 70% of boys underwent needed heart surgery within one year compared to only 44% of girls. Girls account for just 33% of hospital visits under insurance for children under age 10, despite making up roughly half the population.

This neglect produces measurable health outcomes. While boys naturally have higher mortality rates than girls globally, in India the pattern reverses. The under-five mortality rate for girls is 11% higher than for boys, representing a 20 percentage point abnormality. Between 2000 and 2005, an estimated 178,100 girls died due to gender discrimination.

Nutritional discrimination compounds these problems. Among breastfeeding children under age two, girls were 15% less likely to receive milk-based solid foods and 21% less likely to receive meat, fish, or eggs. This results in girls being 7% more likely to suffer malnutrition than boys.

Educational disadvantages 🔗

Educational investment reflects parental attitudes toward sons and daughters. Parents often deprioritize daughters’ education because girls eventually join other families, leaving little perceived incentive for investment. Among Indians aged 45-90, 62% of women had no schooling compared to 31% of men.

Gender gaps widen with age and education level. While the per capita education spending gap starts at 828 rupees at primary level, it expands to 3,813 rupees for higher education, exceeding four times the average monthly salary in India. These disparities create long-term consequences, with only 66% of Indian women literate in 2018 compared to 83% of men.

Impact on mothers 🔗

Women who give birth to daughters often face significant social and emotional pressure. Contrary to assumptions that mothers gain decision-making power from bearing sons, research shows little evidence of consistently large benefits for mothers with sons. The pressure to produce male heirs can strain marriages and lead to repeated pregnancies until a son is born.

The practice of sex-selective abortion also harms women’s health. Studies indicate that 16% of women who had abortions experienced complications including pain, bleeding, infection, and sepsis. In 2015, 5.2 million Indian women suffered abortion-related complications, many from procedures performed by unqualified providers.

Moving toward change 🔗

Despite deep cultural roots, son preference in India shows signs of gradual decline. The sex ratio has improved from its 2010 peak of 111.2 boys per 100 girls to 108.1 in recent years. This shift reflects the combined influence of education, economic development, and changing social attitudes.

Organizations working to educate girls and empower women are contributing to this transformation. When women gain education and economic opportunities, they become less dependent on sons for security and more capable of challenging traditional gender norms. Communities with higher female literacy consistently show reduced son preference, suggesting that investing in girls’ education creates ripple effects that benefit future generations.

What do you think? How can communities balance respect for cultural traditions while ensuring equal value for daughters and sons? What role should education play in shifting deeply held beliefs about gender?

References

1. https://www.unfpa.org/resources/son-preference-and-daughter-neglect-india
2. https://ballardbrief.byu.edu/issue-briefs/son-preference-in-india
3. https://world-education-blog.org/2021/03/08/son-preference-and-girls-education-in-india-and-bangladesh/
4. https://www.cambridge.org/core/blog/2021/04/09/son-preference-and-the-fertility-squeeze-in-india/
5. https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/wdevel/v104y2018icp326-335.html