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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Testing for Son Preference in South Africa |
Authors: | Gangadharan, Lata Maitra, Pushkar |
Year: | 2003 |
Periodical: | Journal of African Economies |
Volume: | 12 |
Issue: | 3 |
Period: | September |
Pages: | 371-416 |
Language: | English |
Geographic term: | South Africa |
Subjects: | boys Indians sex distribution fertility Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) |
External link: | https://jae.oxfordjournals.org/content/12/3/371.full.pdf |
Abstract: | Evidence from many developing countries suggests that parents have a preference for sons over daughters. This has been referred to as son preference. This paper uses individual level unit record data to test the son preference hypothesis in South Africa. It uses an accelerated hazard model to estimate the duration between successive births and the results indicate that son preference exists only for the Indian community in South Africa. Indian households are observed to have a higher duration between children following the birth of a son, irrespective of the number of children they already have. For the rest of the population, there is very little evidence of son preference. Preference for sons could be the result of a combination of factors including religious beliefs and social customs such as the dowry system, lineage and familial and kinship ties. The data set used in the paper is from the 1993 South African Integrated Household Survey. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract] |