Having children in quick succession damages maternal health, since mothers need time to recover after giving birth. Hundreds of Nigerian schoolboys released, local governor says. What are the advantages a male child has over a female child since both of them can take care of the family. Katsina state governor says 344 boys abducted from their school in northwestern Nigeria last Friday have been freed. Son preference in Nigeria: The human rights implications. Figure 3 maps the magnitude of our indicator of gender preferences (α 1 + α 2) for countries in which α 1 and α 2 are jointly significant. Maria received a desperate call from Johnny. A man reacts as he reunites with his son in Katsina, Nigeria on December 18, 2020. The preference for sons is so profound that it even affects a practice which may seem to have little to do with it: fostering. Son preference—widely documented in countries such as India, China, and Korea—is deeply rooted in social, economic, and cultural factors (Pande and Astone 2007). To browse Academia.edu and the wider internet faster and more securely, please take a few seconds to upgrade your browser. Working Paper 6869. Parents have no need of extra measures to ensure boys are born. But in Nigeria, as in most countries, female headship is associated with poverty. It also changes a woman’s married life. iii Journal of Agricultural Extension Vol. However, before heading to Europe, Johnny needed to take a side trip to Nigeria for a job interview. A theoretical model suggests that costs (eg, dowries) are unlikely to explain the Correction: This article originally stated that in Nigeria only men may own family land. Nigeria’s sex ratio at birth is the natural one: 106 boys are born for every 100 girls (boys are more vulnerable to infant diseases, so this ratio ensures that equal numbers of the sexes reach puberty). A Nigerian boy was tied to a cross for coming late to a private school in Ayetoro, Ogun State, south-west Nigeria on April 16, 2018. The issue of son preference is another pernicious violence against women for which the need to protect the girl-child is necessary and desirable in most societies of the world. International comparisons of son preference are constructed, the first known to the author. In Nigerian generally and in Igbanke in particular the issue of a male child preference may not be as blatant as what obtains in Asia, but it exists nonetheless. The preference for sons is also supported by child fostering patterns in which daughters are substitutes for foster girls, while the same does not hold for sons and foster boys. Men also seem more willing to abandon or divorce wives who produce a daughter. 27 We find evidence of son preference in North Africa (Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt), Mali and Senegal, and also in the Great Lakes region (Burundi, Kenya, Uganda, Mozambique, Tanzania). It therefore examined son preference with particular emphasis on Igbo custom in Nigeria and discovered its deep rooted nature in the psyche of the people as well as the fact that it is a violation of the human rights of women and suggested measures to curb same. They are less likely to use contraceptives. It shows that son preference is prevalent and that its deleterious eects are re ected not in missing young or unborn girl children but … Academia.edu no longer supports Internet Explorer. men have stronger ownership rights over land than women do, Evidence mounts that Eritrean forces are in Ethiopia, Jail for a Saudi woman who said women should drive, After 34 years, Uganda’s president has no intention of retiring. Women are in Numerous factors affecting son preference were socio-economic set-up of the society, cultural beliefs, literacy, lesser opportunities for women jobs, cultural restrictions on women, family size, males\' dominance and their validity as earning heads of the households and intact/shared relations with the family as compared to daughters who would otherwise leave their families soon after getting married. Every Nigerian Father, irrespective of his economic or social status, desires a male child. How my journey to Nigeria started. These results can partly explain excess female mortality among adult women in Sub-Saharan Africa. In Nigeria, as in many other African countries, men have stronger ownership rights over land than women do. Among women aged 30 to 49, those with first-born girls are more likely to be divorced, have a non-resident husband or be the head of a household. Objectives: This study was designed to determine child-sex preference of women among an obstetric population in Nigeria, and to … In North Africa, modern contraceptive users display a signi cantly stronger son preference than non-users. Amid worries about kidnapped girls, Nigeria’s traditions are unkind, too. son preference, but women’s education and media exposure do make a difference. Nigeria suffers from sexual bias – parent’s preference for a boy child has resulted in high fertility rates, increased polygamy, higher rates of suicide, high levels of depression, and other mental health conditions. Studies in . And in Nigeria, a family without a male child is always unhappy. Being in a polygamous household harms their health and their children’s because of competition for food in the home. Boko Haram claims kidnapping of hundreds of Nigerian students. Sex-selective abortion is the abortion of a preborn child simply because the child’s sex was not what the parents wanted. The woman is regarded as chattel (property) and this dominate its customary laws on marriage, inheritance, succession and … In countries where culturally-rooted son preference is common, sex-selective abortion is used as a means to attain a couple’s desired number of sons and desired family composition. By contrast, at its worst, China had 120 boys for every 100 girls. This has been corrected. Yusuf Y. Mahmood Son-preference damages maternal health, makes marriage trickier for women, increases polygamy and alters the institution of child-fostering, which is widespread in west Africa. Moreover, in Nigeria, there are plenty of both: the fertility rate is 6.0, meaning the average woman can expect to have six children, or three sons. The need for sons changes fertility patterns. This phenomenon is evident in societies where male children are accorded special recognition and or higher Your son or daughter files Form I-485 when a visa becomes available. In Nigeria, the preference for sons is very prevalent and exists in several cultures as it dates back to pre- … Households with several boys foster girls to help with the chores. This paper revisits the issue of son preference in Sub-Saharan Africa by examining patterns of fertility behavior and family structure in Nigeria. Son preference, fertility and family structure : evidence from reproductive behavior among Nigerian women (English) This paper considers a country in Sub-Saharan Africa and finds that parental gender preferences do affect fertility behavior and shape traditional social institutions with negative effects on adult women's health and well-being. This perhaps explains the reason for the large number of children born by most families in a quest to have male children. This gives everyone an economic need for sons, including women, who face a grim widowhood without one. Almost a fifth of families in Nigeria send a child away to be brought up in another household, often that of a cousin or distant family member. 17 (1) June, 2013 AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION SOCIETY OF NIGERIA (AESON) 2012 – 2014 National Officers President: Mal. PHOTO: Ogun State Command Design, setting and participants Data on 79 953 children aged 6–23 months were obtained from the Nigeria Demographic and Health Surveys (NDHS) for the period spanning 2003–2013. However, our data show … Keywords: human rights, Igbo custom, Nigeria, son preference, violation, women 1. The strongest son preferences are observed in countries with ratios exceeding 120: Mauritania, Pakistan, Senegal, Guinea, Nepal, Azer- baijan, Jordan, Mali, Armenia, Niger, India, and Chad. All rights reserved. In fact, almost everything to do with having a daughter first is bad for women. ... a mission to create more awareness about superstition in Africa with particular preference to Nigeria, and headed to … The need to produce sons may also help explain Nigeria’s maternal-mortality rate of 550 deaths per 100,000 live births—one of the highest rates in the world, even though Nigeria is now a middle-income country. In fact, women may own family land too, but their ownership rights are weaker than men's. The sense that nieces may be substitute daughters but nephews cannot be substitute sons shows how entrenched son-preference is. Yet despite all this, a recent study* finds that Nigeria also suffers from sexual bias from birth and that, while this does not skew the sex ratio, it manifests itself in other ways that harm individuals and society as a whole. In Nigeria, the preference for sons is very prevalent and exists in several cultures as it dates back to pre- historic times and it is tied to inheritance, unfortunately it has not succumbed to societal changes but has remained sacrosanct … Enter the email address you signed up with and we'll email you a reset link. And, if their first three children are daughters, they are very likely to have a fourth very quickly (within 15 months). Family Planning, 33 (4) 321-334. That’s when things took a turn. But households with girls do not foster boys: they keep on trying to have a son of their own. The following objectives were addressed: (1) examine societal factors that influence son preference … But not in Africa. Some husbands, it turns out, take another wife if their first child is a girl (polygamy is legal in northern Nigeria and recognised by customary law elsewhere). Academia.edu uses cookies to personalize content, tailor ads and improve the user experience. Women with first-born daughters are 1.2 percentage points more likely to end up in a polygamous union. Son Preference and Culture I measure the sex preferences of immigrant women in the United Kingdom by estimating the effect of family composition on birth hazard rates. In every tribe in africa male children are very important in the family. Copyright © The Economist Newspaper Limited 2020. Objective The study aimed to examine secular trends and determinants of changes in complementary feeding indicators in Nigeria. Permanent resident (Green Card holder) petitioning for your child, son, or daughter: You file Form I-130. ABSTRACT: Son preference is a global phenomenon that is influenced by personal, conjugal, socioeconomic and cultural factors. SEX-SELECTIVE abortions are used round the world to discriminate in favour of boys. U.S. citizen petitioning for your son or daughter (married and/or 21 or over) You file Form I-130. A statement issued today by OHCHR, UNFPA, UNICEF, UN Women and the WHO* reviews the evidence behind the causes, consequences and lessons learned regarding “son preference” or sex selection favouring boys in many parts of South, East and Central Asia, where ratios as high as 130 boys for every 100 girls have been observed. One might expect that women living in economically more developed areas and those from wealthier families would be less likely to exhibit son preference. In this study, the consequences of son preference and its implication on the status of girls and mothers were explored. See the Visa Bulletin and Green Card pages. To learn more, view our, Socio-cultural Factors and Male-Child Preference among Couples in Ilorin-West Local Government Area of Kwara-State, Nigeria, Male Preference and Marital Stability in Cross River State, South South Nigeria, DEMAND FOR CHILDREN AND FERTILITY TRANSITION IN GUMA LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, BENUE STATE, Escalation of Sex Ratio in Kathmandu Valley.doc, THE EFFECTS OF CULTURAL PRACTICES ON FERTILITY BEHAVIOUR IN GUMA LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, BENUE STATE. Sorry, preview is currently unavailable. LAGOS, May 29 2002 (IPS) - The birth of male children is still the source of pride and honour in Nigeria, while that of female children is seen as failure. The preference for sons is so profound that it even affects a practice which may seem to have little to do with it: fostering. A structured questionnaire was used to ascertain child gender preferences in an urban and a rural area.Results: Significant son preference … Exhausted and dishevelled, several hundred Nigerian schoolboys seized in … The Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on 15th of Last, gender preferences seem to translate into di erential birth spacing mainly through contraception. In Nigeria traditional practices have ensured that men retain material, social and moral dominance over women that they are simply unwilling to voluntarily relinquish. The differences are small but consistent: having a daughter first changes child-bearing choices later. The issue of son preference is another pernicious violence against women for which the need to protect the girl-child is necessary and desirable in most societies of the world. preferences: son preference prevails in patrilineal ethnic groups only. Using individual-level data for Nigeria, the paper shows that, compared to women with first-born sons, women with first-born daughters have (and desire) more children and are less … You can download the paper by clicking the button above. Heading a household may sound like a good thing. Otherwise, countries are classified as «no preference». This article appeared in the Middle East & Africa section of the print edition under the headline "Bring back the girls", Sign up to our free daily newsletter, The Economist today, Published since September 1843 to take part in “a severe contest between intelligence, which presses forward, and an unworthy, timid ignorance obstructing our progress.”. Objective: To ascertain the child gender preferences in an urban and rural community in Enugu State.Materials and Methods: A multistage sampling method was employed to select 245 urban and 243 rural women from households in Enugu State, Eastern Nigeria. Audio message says Nigeria’s Boko Haram behind abduction of hundreds of schoolboys in northwestern state of Katsina. Male-child preference has remained one of the most lasting cultural values among the Igbo of South eastern Nigeria. A discussion about how son preference has … * “Son preference, fertility and family structure”. By using our site, you agree to our collection of information through the use of cookies. Son preference is a social problem and a form of gender discrimination that is based on the belief that daughters are inadequate and of lesser value than sons and this leads to harmful practices and unfair attitudes towards daughters. According to the latest demographic and health survey (financed by the American government), women whose first child is a daughter are likely to have more children than those whose first child is a son. World Bank. By Annamaria Milazzo. 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