Son Preference in India: Is it a Cultural Bequest?

According to the existing literature, son preference is more prevalent in South Asian countries like India. The son preference has led to skewed sex ratio and thus "missing" women in India (GOI, 2018). But as per the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) data indicates that the share of the daughters only families has increased from 5.15% to 6.65% from NFHS-1 to NFHS -3. This daughters-only family is more predominant in the southern states of India. In this context, this paper examines whether education and having a paid job has reduced the son preference. Pretested, semi-structured questionnaire-based in-depth interviews were conducted among 300 married women aged between 22 to 55 years in the Indian state of Kerala. As against the general notion that dowry is the root cause for gender discrimination this study finds that the main reason is the perception that boys belong to the family and girls belong to some other family. Chronologically the other factors that contribute son meta-preference are (i) sons take care of parents (ii) bringing up boys is easier than girls (iii) dowry (iv) son maintain family name (v) don't want to see daughter's suffering and (vi) pressure from husband's parents. The working women have less preference towards son in comparison with non-working women irrespective of the educational qualification. The main factor that supports the son preference for nonworking women is the lack of financial freedom, dowry issues, and suffering. This study thus emphasizes the need for the abolishment of patrilocality, financial earnings and a job outside the house and these factors are more important than the level of the educational qualification itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]