بررسی جمعیت‌شناختی و فرهنگی- اجتماعی ترجیح جنسیتی در ایران

پژوهش حاضر با رویکردی جمعیت‌شناختی و اجتماعی فرهنگی، برخی از مهم‌ترین الگوها و تعیین ‌کننده‌های مرتبط با مسئلۀ ترجیح جنسیتی را مطالعه و بررسی می‌کند. جوامع انسانی در دهه‌های اخیر پیشرفت‌های مهم و تغییرات شگرفی را تجربه کرده‌اند که از آنها با نام یک انقلاب اجتماعی به‌مراتب مهم‌تر، یعنی «انقلاب در نقش‌های جنسیتی»، یاد می‌شود؛ اما پدیدۀ ترجیح جنسیتی مانند قبل به‌منزلۀ مسئله‌ای اجتماعی در جوامع انسانی معاصر مشاهده می‌شود؛ به‌طوری که بررسی پیشینه و ادبیات پژوهش در این مقاله بیانگر دو اصل عمده است: یکی اصل فراگیر و همه‌جایی‌بودن مسئلۀ ترجیح جنسیتی و دیگری، اصل تداوم و همیشگی‌بودن آن. مباحث تجربی این مقاله مبتنی بر تجزیه‌وتحلیل‌های بررسی پیمایشی است که جمعیت نمونۀ آن را درمجموع تعداد 3667 نفر از مردان و زنان 15‌سال و بالاتر ساکن در مناطق شهری و روستایی شهرستان‌های اسفراین، اهواز، بابلسر، بجنورد، خرم‌آباد، گنبدکاووس، محمودآباد و همدان تشکیل می‌دهد. مطابق نتایج پژوهش حاضر بیشترین نسبت ترجیح‌های جنسیتی مربوط به کسانی است که ترجیح می‌دهند به تعداد مساوی فرزندان دختر و پسر داشته باشند؛ اما همین گروه نیز چنانچه به تعداد مساوی فرزندان دختر و پسر دست نیابند، به‌طور بالقوه تمایل دارند فرزندآوری‌شان را برای دست‌یابی به چنین ترجیحی ادامه دهند. همچنین نسبت کسانی که فرزند پسر را ترجیح می‌دهند بیشتر از کسانی است که فرزند دختر را ترجیح می‌دهند؛ بدین ترتیب، دوسوم افراد به شکل‌های مختلف به ترجیح جنسیتی تمایل دارند و تنها یک‌سوم افراد هیچ‌گونه ترجیح جنسیتی ندارند. در عین حال، نتایج این پژوهش تاییدکنندۀ وجود رابطه بین این الگوهای ترجیح جنسیتی و سه دسته تعیین‌کننده‌های عمدۀ مشتمل بر متغیرهای پایه مانند سن، جنس و تحصیلات، متغیرهای جمعیت‌شناختی و متغیرهای مرتبط با نگرش جنسیتی است.

Demographic and SocioCultural Study of Gender Preference in Iran

Introduction:   This study presents researchbased evidence to examine the patterns and determinants associated with gender preference in Iran from demographic and sociocultural perspectives. The importance of such studies lies in the fact that despite substantial progress in contemporary societies leading to a more important social revolution socalled ‘revolution in gender roles’, gender preference still exists in human societies. In his book titled A General Theory of Gender Stratification, Blumberg (1984) has simply and clearly documented this issue: ’remember the Golden Rule: He who has the gold makes the rules’. In fact, the large body of literature reviewed in this article also indicates that gender preference has substantially persisted as a social problem throughout human societies.     Materials & Methods   This analysis is based on a survey conducted in rural and urban areas of Ahvaz, Babolsar, Bojnord, Esfarayen, Gonbad Kavos, Khoramabad, Mahmoudabad, and Hamadan. The survey includes 3667 males and females aged 15 years old and over. The research data has been collected using questionnaire. Then, SPSS has been employed in order to analyze the research data. The key dependent variable of the present analysis is gender preference, which has been defined and classified in four categories: ’son preference’, ’daughter preference’, ’no preference, neither for son nor for daughter’, ’preference for equal number of sons and daughters’. Further, this analysis includes three main groups of dependent variables: First, basic variables such as age, sex, place of residence, education. Second, variables related to gender attitudes measured by attitudes towards women’s employment and malebreadwinner model. Third, demographic variables such as the number of children, gender composition of children, and the ideal number of children.     Discussion of Results & Conclusion   Generally speaking, the results of this study illustrate that only onethird of the respondents reject gender preference, whereas the remaining majority hold positive attitudes toward gender preference. However, these general patterns are significantly associated with three major categories of determinants. The first category refers to basic variables such as age, sex and education: ’son preference’ is stronger among men than women as it is stronger among people living in rural areas than those living in urban areas. Moreover, education level has significant effect on gender preference: the lower the education level, the stronger the tendency towards gender preference. More specifically, among illiterates, the tendency towards ’son preference’ is three times greater than that towards ’daughter preference’. However, gender preference becomes increasingly weaker as level of education goes up so that highlyeducated people hold the lowest level of gender preference.   The second category refers to variables related to gender roles attitudes. According to the results of this analysis, the pattern of ’son preference’ is significantly affected by traditional and conservative attitudes towards gender roles: the stronger the latter, the more visible the former. Controversy, those holding modern and liberal attitudes towards gender roles are substantially less in favour of gender preference. The third category refers to demographic determinants. For instance, gender preference particularly ’son preference’ tends to be more common among people with a larger number of children. Furthermore, the gender composition of the existing children has a significant impact on gender preference, suggesting that the pattern of son preference becomes significantly weaker among people who already have an equal number of male and female children.   In sum, the underlying conclusion of this analysis refers to the fact that the patterns of gender preference are substantially associated with modernism so that gender preference in general and son preference specifically tend to be significantly less evident among people with more liberal and modern attitudes. In contrary, those holding stronger traditional attitudes are more likely to have gender preference particularly son preference. This underlying conclusion can be observed and explained through such basic determinants as age or education, and more visibly through attitudes towards gender roles measured by women’s employment and malebreadwinner model: those with more liberal and modern attitudes towards gender roles hold a weaker tendency towards gender preference, whereas such a tendency is significantly stronger amongst those with more traditional and conservative attitudes towards gender roles.