Son
preference is a global phenomenon that is influenced by personal, conjugal, socioeconomic
and cultural factors. Objectives: This study was designed to determine child-sex preference of women among an obstetric
population in Nigeria, and to obtain the reasons for such choices. Materials
and Methods: A 15-item questionnaire was used to obtain information
from the respondents on their child-sex preference and factors that influenced
such preferences. Results: Four hundred and fifty-three women with a mean age
of 29.07 4.70 were surveyed. Most (428,
94.5%) were married, 448 (98.9%) were Christians, 404 (89.2%) were booked attending antenatal care in the
centre, and 289 (63.8%) had attained post-secondary level of
education. The vast majority 294 (64.9%) of the mothers
preferred to have male children in the index pregnancy. About half 223 (49.2%) of the mothers would stop trying to have
their preferred child-sex after 4 attempts. The majority (171,
37.7%) of the mothers made
their child-sex preference in order to attain gender balance in the family,
while 129 (28.5%) of them made their preference to ensure
inheritance. Mothers whose reasons for child-sex preferred were “for inheritance”, “to satisfy husband”, and “to consolidate marriage” significantly preferred sons, p = 0.000. Conclusion: This study has confirmed
Nigeria as a patriarchal society, where women prefer to have male children as
against daughters, although, the trend was towards the attainment of child-sex
balance in the composition of offspring in the family. Mothers’ preferences for
sons in this study were significantly influenced by patriarchal considerations.
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