Son Preference in India

womeninequality

Oct 26

Summary+

Son preference, based on the belief that sons are more valuable than daughters, creates environments where girls are neglected and discriminated against all over the world. India has one of the strongest cultures of son preference, as evidenced by its abnormal sex ratio at birth (SRB) of 110 boys born for every 100 girls.¹ Son preference in India is caused by cultural norms placing sons in positions of importance, as sons are tasked with performing funeral rites for parents, supporting parents financially, and taking care of their parents in their old age. Additionally, having daughters is a financial burden on parents as the cost of dowries was, on average, 3–8 times the average annual male’s income in the late 20th century.² The main negative consequence of son preference is sex-selective abortion. Up to 1 million fetuses are sex-selectively aborted every year in India, which has created millions of missing women and girls in India’s population.^3,4 After birth, girls experience discrimination in schooling and healthcare—girls in India are less educated and less likely to receive medical care and proper nutrients than their brothers. Research has found that more educated mothers are significantly less likely to prefer sons, so organizations promoting female education in India can help reduce son preference and sex-selective abortion.

Key Takeaways+

Around 142 million women and girls went “missing” in the world due to son preference and sex-selective abortion between 1970 and 2020—India accounted for 40.3 million of these women.^5,6
India had an abnormal sex ratio at birth of 110 boys for every 100 girls (compared to a normal rate of 105), based on data from 2000–2020.⁷
An estimated 178,100 girls out of 13 million in India died due to gender discrimination between 2000 and 2005.⁸
Although global trends show that the under 5 mortality rate (U5MR) is significantly higher in boys than in girls, in India, the U5MR was 11% higher for girls than boys.⁹
Girls in India were about 42% less likely to get primary education than boys.¹⁰
Research determined that the level of a mother’s education was significant in reducing son preference in India.¹¹

Key Terms+

Female feticide —When female fetuses are aborted due to a cultural preference for sons.¹²

Female infanticide —The intentional killing of baby girls due to son preference. This is also referred to as gendercide.^13,14

Intimate partner violence (IPV) —Behavior within an intimate relationship that causes physical, sexual, or physiological harm, including physical aggression, sexual coercion, physiological abuse, and controlling behavior.¹⁵

Malnourished —Receiving less than sufficient or an unbalanced amount of the nutrients or foods essential for proper health and growth.¹⁶

Missing women —Women and girls that would exist in the world in the absence of gender discrimination, female infanticide, or sex-selective abortion.¹⁷

Patrilinear —Tracing descent through the paternal line.¹⁸

Sex-selective abortion —The voluntary termination of a pregnancy based on gender, usually when the fetus is female.¹⁹

Stunting —Impaired growth and development in children due to poor nutrition. Children are considered stunted if their height-for-age ratio exceeds 2 standard deviations below the WHO standard.²⁰

U5MR —The under 5 mortality rate estimates the probability of a child dying before the age of 5, measured per 1,000 live births.²¹

Context

Q: What is son preference and how is it defined in this brief?

A: Son preference refers broadly to the view that sons are more valuable than daughters and awards sons higher status than daughters, leaving female children disadvantaged and deprioritized in families and society.^22,23,24 Son preference is also referred to as daughter aversion because this phenomenon causes couples trying to avoid having daughters to utilize methods like sex-selective abortion (SSA) and female infanticide.²⁵ In this brief, son preference will be defined by the belief that boys are more valuable than girls. Although survey data can help measure the prevalence of son preference among a population, son preference is primarily measured through the sex ratio at birth (SRB). This measurement helps capture the level of son preference among a group because it highlights the reduced number of girls born (or that are born and killed by female infanticide) because their parents would rather raise a son than a daughter.²⁶

Q: Among which groups is son preference more prevalent in India?

A: Son preference more strongly affects children with disadvantaged backgrounds, such as those living in rural areas, born to low-educated mothers, and living in poor families.²⁷ Of the 4 major religious groups in India—Hindus, Muslims, Christians, and Sikhs—Sikhs had the greatest imbalance in gender ratio at birth (indicating the highest rate of SSA).²⁸

In the 2000s, the sex ratio among Indian Sikhs reached 130 male births per 100 female births.²⁹ However, the gender ratio among Sikhs has lessened considerably, dropping to 110 in 2019–2021.³⁰ Although son preference among Indian Sikhs is lower than it used to be, its sex ratio of 110 was still higher than the sex ratio among Hindus (109 male births per 100 female births), Muslims (106), and Christians (103) during the 2019–2021 period.³¹

Although Hindus do not have the most skewed SRB ratio in India, the Hindu population is responsible for 86.7% of the missing women in India between 2000–2019 because Hindus constitute the large majority—almost 80%—of India’s total population.³² Muslims and Christians had fewer missing women than their share of the population, indicating son preference is essentially non-existent among these groups.³³

Q: Where is son preference most prevalent?

A: There were around 142 million missing women and girls from the world’s population due to son preference between 1970 and 2020—approximately the equivalent of all American women and girls living in 2000.^34,35,36 China and India account for 73.4 million and 40.3 million of these missing women, respectively.³⁷ Son preference is most prevalent in Southern Asia, Western Asia, Northern Africa, and Central/Eastern Europe.³⁸ In contrast, sex preferences in Western and Northern Europe and the Americas generally favor a mixed-sex composition of children.³⁹ Although recent polls indicate that couples in the United States would rather have a boy (36%) than a girl (28%), the son preference is not salient enough to affect the sex ratio at birth (SRB).⁴⁰

Boys naturally outnumber girls at birth, indicated by a natural SRB of around 105 male births per 100 female births. Examining the sex ratio at birth in different countries can point to the prevalence of son preference. In the 21st century, the countries with the most male-biased sex ratios—indicating son preference—were China and Azerbaijan with 115 male births per 100 female births, Armenia at 114, Vietnam and Albania at 111, India at 110, and Georgia at 109.⁴¹ Some of these high sex ratios can be explained by government policies and changes. For instance, the sex ratio in China has been exacerbated by its one-child policy, incentivizing couples to be more aggressive in utilizing sex-selective abortion and infanticide to ensure the birth of a son.⁴² Additionally, the number of boys at birth increased in Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Georgia after the collapse of the USSR, when couples received fewer government benefits and increasingly had to rely on their children for financial support and care. Because sons hold the position of providing for their parents in their old age, having sons became a necessity for parents without any other social support. In comparison, the United States had a SRB of 105 male births per 100 female births from 2000–2020.⁴³

Q: How has son preference evolved over time?

A: Son preference has been prevalent in the world for centuries.⁴⁴ In historical times, a preference for sons emerged in areas where succession and inheritance laws favored sons.⁴⁵ In Asia, son preference has historically been presented as a couple continually having children until they have achieved the desired number of sons.⁴⁶ Female infanticide has also been utilized throughout Indian history to limit the number of daughters.⁴⁷ In 1871, British officials recorded an abnormal sex ratio of 940 women per 1,000 men in India’s first census survey. That same year, Britain passed The Infanticide Act, making the killing of infants illegal, to try and curb female infanticide, but the law was difficult to enforce when most births occurred at home and births were not regulated.⁴⁸ With the introduction of medical advancements in the 1980s, parents started utilizing sex-selective abortion to ensure the gender of their babies, and abortion became the preferred method to limit the birth of daughters.^49,50

Woman and Child sitting — Photo by Pexels

However, son preference has decreased in recent years, including in India. Sex-selective abortion and female infanticide in India peaked in 2010, when the gender ratio at birth was 111.2 male births per 100 female births.^51,52 Since 2010, the imbalance in the gender ratio at birth has lessened, to 108.1 male births per 100 female births, indicating the decrease in son preference in India.⁵³ The prevalence of desired gender among Indians has likewise lessened—a survey in 1998–1999 recorded that 33% of Indian women wanted more sons than daughters, compared to a recent survey from 2019–2021 which found that only 15% of Indian women wanted more sons than daughters.⁵⁴

Q: What regional gender differences exist in India?

A: Although there are a disputed number of regions in the Indian subcontinent, this brief will focus on the North-South divide when considering differences in gender equality.⁵⁵ Women in India’s southern states generally have better socioeconomic status, as they live longer and are more educated than women in the northern Hindu Belt. Southern society allows women more freedom, autonomy, and voice than Northern society, which is much more patriarchal.⁵⁶ The difference in gender roles is in part because agriculture in the north is mechanized, leaving women limited roles outside of the household.⁵⁷ Northern culture also has strong patrilinear norms, as sons inherit property and daughters are expected to join their husbands’ households and help their husbands’ families first.⁵⁸ On the other hand, southern agriculture is labor-intensive, so women in the south are very involved in agricultural production. This involvement affords women higher economic value, lessening patriarchal constraints on women.⁵⁹ Southern and northeastern Indians are also more accepting of married women financially supporting the family and inheriting property.⁶⁰

Contributing Factors

Patrilocality

Patrilocality, where couples reside with the husband's family, is a key factor in perpetuating son preference in India.⁶¹ In this system, sons are tasked with the responsibility of taking care of their parents in their old age, often resulting in married couples moving to live with or near the husband's family.⁶² A son, according to Indian tradition, is vitally important for a couple's future stability and care.⁶³ One survey reported that 39% of Indian adults said sons should have the primary responsibility to care for parents as they age, and this belief was slightly more salient among older adults and men.⁶⁴ This system encourages son preference because daughters have no long-term value for parents—any investment in daughters is essentially an investment in another family’s child. Because a boy physically and financially remains tied to his parents, parents are incentivized to invest in and prioritize sons over daughters.⁶⁵ Although the percentage of working women has been increasing, men have a higher income value than women—representing 76.8% of the workforce in 2023.^66,67 This attitude is demonstrated by an often-quoted Indian saying that, “raising a daughter is like watering your neighbor’s garden.”⁶⁸

Researchers have observed that the single common factor for a high prevalence of son preference is patrilocality—every country with a highly skewed SRB also had a high rate of elderly people living with their sons.⁶⁹ Additional research determined that rates of patrilocality among states and districts in India were negatively correlated with sex ratios at birth, supporting the fact that India’s culture of patrilocality affects son preference and sex-selective abortion. Specifically, Northern India has a stronger culture of patrilocality than the South, and it also has a more skewed sex ratio.⁷¹ North India’s SRB was 111 boys per 100 girls in 2019–2021, compared to South India at 108 and other regions varying from 104–109.⁷² Additionally, different religious groups with a higher rate of co-residence also had a more skewed sex ratio, with Sikhs, Janists, Hindus, and Muslims having higher rates of both than Christians and Buddhists.⁷³ Because patrilocality contributes to son preference, son preference in India is stronger in areas where patrilocality is more prevalent.

Dowries and Bride Gifts

Dowries and other bride gifts affect son preference because parents often pay large sums for daughters to marry, while parents with sons gain money. Dowries persist in Indian culture as an almost universal practice at the time of marriage and have even risen in value in recent decades.⁷⁴ Observations of rural Indian dowries in the late 20th century record that 94% of bridal families paid a dowry to a groom’s family.⁷⁵ During this time, the average dowry price was between 3–8 times what the average annual male’s income was, or about two-thirds of a family’s household assets.^76,77 Although legislative efforts attempted to reduce the size and scope of dowries, the value of dowries increased more than threefold between 1945 and 1975.⁷⁸ Recently, dowry prices have remained relatively stable, rising or decreasing slightly in different regions and among different religious groups.⁷⁹ Determinants of dowry price include the caste, appearance, wealth, and education level of the couple, with the most important quality for a bride being her appearance and earning ability for a groom.⁸⁰ The dowry system in India differs from other historical systems—in Europe, dowries were seen as a bride’s inheritance while India’s system sees a dowry as the cost of securing a groom for daughters, and thus the groom controls the money.⁸¹ While a groom’s family gives gifts to a bride’s family, the average bride’s family pays 7 times more for dowries and gifts.⁸² Thus, the cost of the dowry system largely falls on the bride’s family, causing son preference among parents.

Close up of hands over a small fire — Photo by Pexels

Researchers have concluded that dowries cause son preference because Indian parents cite the financial burden of dowries as a key reason for their desire to have sons.⁸³ In a 2008 study of the rural Indian state Tamil Nadu, the majority of parents who reported that they did not want a daughter claimed that the economic cost of a dowry was the primary reason for their gender preference.⁸⁴

While only 57% of the respondents reported the use of a dowry in their marriage, almost all expected to have to pay a dowry in the case of a daughter’s marriage, illustrating that almost all parents of girls feel financial pressure because of their daughter’s dowries. Respondents viewed dowries as necessary to protect a daughter from hardships and violence from the groom or his family, adding to social pressure to pay a dowry.⁸⁵ Some advertisements purport that spending a small amount for an ultrasound and abortion can save parents from paying the large expense of a dowry later on.⁸⁶ Ultimately, the financial burden of paying for dowries disincentivizes parents from wanting girls, leading some to resort to sex-selective abortions or female infanticide to avoid the birth of daughters.

Religious and Social Value of Sons

Society perceives sons as having greater social, economic, and religious utility compared to daughters; they carry a family’s legacy, are tasked with caring for their parents in old age, and perform religious duties for the family.⁸⁷ Sons play a special role in Hinduism, giving them more social value than daughters. For instance, sons are tasked with lighting the funeral pyre and sending parents to their salvation.⁸⁸ Hindus believe a person can only reach heaven if their son (or another male family member) completes this ritual. Additionally, sons can help deceased parents achieve salvation by giving food to the poor and alms to priests.⁸⁹ The importance of religious values to son preference can be observed by comparing religiosity and sex ratios at birth between different castes. Upper castes tend to adhere more strictly to religious ceremonies and rituals rather than lower castes and other disadvantaged groups; additionally, the gender ratio among upper castes is more skewed than the ratio among lower castes.⁹⁰ The sex ratio for the four highest castes was 110 males per female births in 2019–2021, compared to the SRB of 108 for the lowest caste and SRBs of 109 and 104 for Indians with other disadvantaged social classes and Indigenous peoples, respectively.⁹¹

Sons also have a larger social value than daughters, as India practices patrilineality, the system where names and property pass down generations through the sons in the family. For widowed mothers, this fact is especially significant because they can only hold onto family land and property by having a son who allows them continual residence.⁹² Thus, having at least one son (and additional sons in case a son dies) secures a family’s social status.⁹³

Survey data illustrates how religious traditions affect son preference—when asked whether sons or daughters should have the primary responsibility for funeral rites, about 63% said their son should have the responsibility while only 1% chose their daughters (the remaining respondents said both sons and daughters should share the responsibility).⁹⁴

Consequences

Sex-Selective Abortion

Son preference causes parents to utilize sex-selective abortion to ensure they have their preferred number of sons. The availability of abortion allows parents to abort female fetuses until they get pregnant with a male fetus, leading to a disproportionate amount of female feticide.⁹⁵ Although female infanticide, the intentional killing of already-born girls, also occurs in India, research indicates abortion has become exceedingly more prevalent to determine the gender of children.^96,97 In India, upwards of 1 million fetuses are sex-selectively aborted each year in India out of an estimated total of 16 million abortions in 2015.^98,99 Additional research shows that the selective abortion of girls increased from the 1980s to the 2000s.¹⁰⁰ Although sex-selective abortion is widely practiced in India, as evidenced by the abnormal SRB of 110, it is illegal to have an abortion based solely on the gender of the fetus.^101,102 Abnormal sex ratios cause various problems for a country due to a shortage of women, as there will not be enough women for men to marry. One study projected a female deficiency of 6.8 million in India by 2030.¹⁰³

Ultrasound on a monitor — Photo by Pexels

In addition to causing the death of a fetus, abortions cause considerable physical and mental harm to the mother. One study recorded that 16% of women in India who had abortions experienced post-abortion complications, including pain, bleeding, sepsis, shock, and infection.¹⁰⁴ In 2015, a total of 5.2 million women in India suffered from abortion complications.¹⁰⁵

Sixty-seven percent of women seeking abortions report using unqualified doctors and nurses, although this percentage is likely higher.¹⁰⁶ These abortions lead to a greater risk of complications leading to morbidity and even death.¹⁰⁷ Additionally, abortions can cause problems with fertility when an infection spreads to the fallopian tubes. Women who have had an abortion also can have future problems with their pregnancies; they are more than twice as likely to give birth prematurely.¹⁰⁸

Health Inequities for Girls

After birth, son preference results in health inequities for women and girls because parents prioritize the well-being of their sons over their daughters.¹⁰⁹ Son preference causes unusually high mortality in female infants and girls.¹¹⁰ Parents are more likely to seek out and provide medical care for sick sons rather than sick daughters.

For instance, one study in India found that 1 year after parents were informed that their child needed surgery to fix a congenital heart condition, 70% of the boys had undergone the surgery, compared to 44% of girls.¹¹¹ Another study found that girls only accounted for 33% percent of hospital visits under insurance for children under the age of 10.¹¹² Furthermore, between 2017 and 2019 there were at least an estimated 225,000 fewer hospital visits among Indian females than should have existed based on the population, due to a lack of women seeking healthcare.¹¹³

Girls naturally have a lower mortality rate than boys, which eventually evens out the naturally male-skewed gender ratio at birth.^114,115 Boys’ higher death rate exists because they are more susceptible to diseases and genetic disorders as infants (due to only having one X chromosome) and more prone to accidents and violence as children.^116,117 However, more girls die than boys in India—the under 5 mortality rate (U5MR in India was 11% higher for girls than boys (compared to a global average where girls had a UMR that was 9% lower than the boys’).¹¹⁸ Thus, India’s U5MR represented a 20 percentage point abnormality caused by gender discrimination.^119,120 Research from 2000–2005 revealed that excess mortality in girls under the age of 5 was 18.5 per 1,000 live births, totaling 239,000 excess deaths of girls per year.¹²¹ Additionally, an estimated 178,100 out of 13 million girls in India died due to gender discrimination in the same period.¹²²

In addition to mortality, girls in India experience health disorders and conditions at much higher rates than boys because of a lack of care. For instance, 54% of girls aged 15–19 were anemic, compared to 29% of boys in the same age range.¹²³ Researchers have also found that son preference also increased the rate of stunting among girls.¹²⁴ These outcomes occur because Indian girls often receive fewer calories and less nutritious food than boys. One study on nutrition in India found that, among breast-feeding children below the age of 2, girls were 15% less likely to receive supplemental milk-based solid foods, and 21% less likely to receive valuable meat, fish, or eggs.¹²⁵ Girls were also 7% more likely to be malnourished than boys, demonstrating the nutrition disparity among children stemming from gender discrimination.¹²⁶

Educational Inequities for Girls

Indian women and girls receive less schooling than boys, creating inequalities in knowledge and opportunity. Parents often deprioritize their daughters’ education because girls eventually join other families, leaving little incentive for families to invest in girls’ education. However, investing in their sons’ education is seen as directly beneficial to parents because it increases the earnings and social status of the family, creating an educational disparity between boys and girls.¹²⁷ This belief leads to a disparity in education and schooling between sons and daughters in India. Research in India found that the gender gap in schooling between sons and daughters decreased by 56% in families where mothers did not display a preference for sons, illustrating how son preference can limit girls’ education.¹²⁸ One study revealed that 62% of Indian women aged 45–90 had received no schooling at all, while only 31% of Indian men had not received schooling.¹²⁹ Girls in India were about 42% less likely to receive primary education than boys.¹³⁰ Even if parents allow their daughters to receive an education, girls are also more likely to drop out of school than boys.¹³¹

The education gap increases as boys and girls get older, and traditional gender roles (such as the belief that men should make the financial decisions and that women should solely take care of children) become more entrenched.¹³² This trend can be illustrated through educational spending and attendance gaps.

The gap in per capita education increased from ₹828 (rupees) at the primary level (ages 6–10) and ₹935 at the middle/secondary level (ages 11–15) to ₹3189 at the higher secondary level (ages 16–17) and ₹3813 in higher education (age 18–22).¹³³

Considering the average salary per month in India is ₹879, these gaps show the drastic preference towards boys, as families invest more than the average monthly salary towards a boy's education (and for higher secondary education, more than 4 times the average monthly salary).^134,135,136 Thus, parents' differing treatment toward their children also manifests in how governments and schools treat boys and girls. The attendance gap between girls and boys was 3.8% for 16-to-17-year-olds but grew to 11.8% among 18-to-22-year-olds (although overall attendance rates shrunk for both men and women).^137,138,139 These disparities lead to long-term disadvantages. In 2018, 66% of Indian women were literate, compared to 83% of Indian men.¹⁴⁰ Women also displayed worse late-life cognition than men, which can mainly be explained by the lack of education and early-life nutrition.¹⁴¹ Overcoming the cognitive deficit between men and women would require women to have an additional 9 years of education, on average.¹⁴² The cognitive deficit was smaller in areas with lower levels of gender discrimination, indicating that son preference causes women to be disadvantaged long-term.¹⁴³ A lack of education also impacts the future career opportunities of women—only a quarter of Indian women are in the formal workplace.¹⁴⁴ Women are significantly affected by the unequal allocation of resources, caused by son preference, impeding their quality of life and future career opportunities.

Practices

Educated Mothers

Research has found that educated mothers are much less likely to prefer sons over daughters, meaning that investing in educating women can decrease son preference in India.¹⁴⁵ Educating mothers can lead to reduced son preference because more educated women are more likely to access paying jobs, meaning they do not have to rely on their sons for financial support. Education can also help women challenge social norms (such as the social desirability of sons), realize their true fertility desires, and make their own reproductive decisions.¹⁴⁶

Many organizations are working to close the educational gender gap in India, including Educate Girls. Educate Girls focuses on mobilizing communities in rural areas by recruiting local volunteers to change community mindsets about the benefits of educating young girls.^147,148 Educate Girls also has a program for girls who have been out of school for over 2 years that allows them to earn a 10th-grade certification.¹⁴⁹

One goal of Educate Girls is to create a more empowered and self-reliant generation of women, which will benefit their future children through reduced child marriage, more education, economic growth, and reduced class and income inequalities.¹⁵⁰ Additionally, educating girls will create more educated mothers, which has been shown to reduce the prevalence of son preference in India.¹⁵¹

Impact

An International Center for Research on Women analysis found that the level of a mother’s education was the single most significant factor in reducing son preference in India.¹⁵² On an individual level, women with primary schooling were less likely to report son preference than women with no schooling, women with secondary schooling were even less likely to exhibit son preference, and those with higher education were by far the least likely to prefer sons.¹⁵³ On a community level, women in villages with higher levels of female literacy were less likely to prefer sons, even after controlling for other factors.¹⁵⁴ Thus, the level of a woman’s education and the number of educated women in a community can both reduce son preference, lessening sex-selective abortions and Female infanticide.¹⁵⁵ A global study on developing countries supported these findings, confirming that a one-year increase in maternal education reduced son preference by 0.17 percentage points.¹⁵⁶ This study also revealed that maternal education can offset health and education consequences of son preference. For instance, overall decreased fertility can allow parents to provide more resources to their existing children.¹⁵⁷ Additionally, more educated mothers had more accessibility to health knowledge and information and were less tolerant of intimate partner violence (IPV), indicating a better home life for all children, including daughters.¹⁵⁸

Gaps

Although there is evidence that educating mothers reduces son preference, other research indicates that educating women in India on a large scale would not reduce the overall sex ratio. While educated mothers in India preferred fewer sons, they also preferred smaller family sizes, and these two results combined to show that the level of a mother’s education was not statistically significant in predicting the percentage of sons desired.¹⁵⁹ Thus, because educating mothers in India could lower the overall fertility rate, the gender ratio at birth may not return to normal.

Preferred Citation: Watts, Susan May. “Son Preference in India.” Ballard Brief. October 2024. www.ballardbrief.byu.edu.

Viewpoints published by Ballard Brief are not necessarily endorsed by BYU or The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Footnotes

Portrait photo of a woman — By Susan May Watts
Published Fall 2024
*Special thanks to the Ballard Brief Team for editing and research contributions.*

Susan May Watts

Susan is a political science major specializing in research and data analysis. She also minored in nonprofit management, where she became passionate about social issues involving gender, education, and income inequality in America. She is continuing her education at BYU Law School this fall.