Son Preference

Son preference is the social norm that values male children more highly than female children. Within many patriarchal, patrilineal and patrilocal families, sons are expected to continue the lineage, support parents and perform family rituals, while daughters are expected to join another household after marriage. These expectations shape fertility behaviour, including desired family size, contraceptive use and the decision to stop childbearing.

Why sons become preferred

The preference reflects the unequal social and economic roles assigned to sons and daughters rather than any biological influence on fertility.

• Under patrilineal inheritance, family identity and property have traditionally passed through the male line, notwithstanding daughters' legal inheritance rights.
• In patrilocal families, sons generally remain connected to the parental household, while daughters are expected to marry out.
• Expectations of old-age support and performance of funeral rites increase the perceived value of sons, while marriage-related expenditure can make daughters appear costly.

How preference changes fertility decisions

Son preference usually operates through a composition-specific goal: parents may accept daughters but still consider the family incomplete without at least one son.

• Couples may continue childbearing until the desired number of sons is reached, creating a son-targeting stopping rule.
• A couple that has a son early may stop childbearing sooner, whereas a daughters-only family may have additional births and consequently higher completed fertility.
• Contraceptive adoption may be postponed until a son is born, and decisions may be controlled by husbands or senior relatives rather than by women themselves.
• When desired family size becomes smaller, pressure to secure a son may shift from repeated births towards prenatal sex selection and sex-selective abortion.

Demographic and gender effects

The result is not simply more births; it is a gendered pattern of reproductive decision-making that can persist even during overall fertility decline.

• Repeated pregnancies can produce unwanted or higher-parity births and increase health burdens on women.
• Sex selection can distort the sex ratio at birth, while daughters born into strongly son-preferring families may face discriminatory allocation of care and resources.
• Restricted reproductive autonomy reinforces women's subordinate position within the household and reproduces patriarchal norms across generations.

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