Son preference in Pakistan: A myth or reality

Objective: to analyze desire for sons/daughters among ladies of peshawar,pakistan,with a view to rule out son preference and to study impact of various demographic characteristics on the subject. methods: cross-sectional descriptive study conducted at combined military hospital,peshawar,from august 2015 - january 2016; sampling technique was random/probability/non-purposive. self-designed questionnaire was utilized; carrying questions pertinent to desire for sons/daughters during marital life,and demographic details. data analyzed via descriptive analysis (spss-21),expressed as frequencies/ percentages and mean ± standard deviation(minimum/maximum). sons and daughters desired (dependent variables) were cross-tabulated with independent variables. results: response rate was 63.25% (n-506). data revealed following: sons desired 3.05±2.061(1/12); daughters desired 1.15±0.767(0/4); 6.1%(n-31) and 0.6%(n-3) desired infinite number of sons and daughters respectively,18.2%(n-92) did not desire to have even one daughter,while 2.2%(n-11) considered it immaterial to have daughters or sons. there was a significant relation between sons desired and client’s education (p<0.001),husband’s education (p<0.001) and socioeconomic class (p<0.001). there was no significant impact of religion (p-0.142) on desire for sons. impact of independent variables on daughters desired was similar but less pronounced. conclusion: there was candid son preference among the respondents. gender discrimination can be attenuated by adequately addressing son preference at all tiers. © 2016,pakistan journal of medical sciences. all rights reserved.