Changing Attitude Towards Child Sex Preference Essay

This paper focuses on the intensity of preference for sons over daughters in anticipation of old age security both physically and financially, and its impact on the care and support/ well-being of the elderly in Nigeria in general, and in particular among the Yoruba of Southwest. The paper examines the impact of social change on child sex preference as old age security. Before delving into the theme of the paper, the concept of social change was briefly discussed. The reasons for having children generally are discussed, child sex preference among the elderly were equally analyzed; the pattern it took before now, the changes that have occurred and the attitude of parents toward child sex preference as old age security in the contemporary Nigerian society were equally examined. The effects of sex preference and other socio-economic factors on the status of the elderly and its implications for the family were mentioned. Various literature and theoretical models on the subject matter were reviewed and finally, a general conclusion was drawn. Introduction Startling transformations have occurred all over the world, particularly on the mode of caring and supporting of older persons and there are a number of important issues, which arise as a result of these transformations and the major structural shift in the population. One of these issues is the concern of social gerontologists for the needs of older people for support in the society. Although, it should be mentioned at this uncture that this transformation (that is, social change) affects different people in different ways, depending on sex, location, size of cohort, economic resources (individual, familial and national), norms inherited from the past and individual’s live experiences and personality. For example, marital status and earlier patterns of childbearing are significant factors influencing the nature of the support available in old age. While co-residence of older persons and adult children is common in many developing countries, the tendency worldwide is for this arrangement to become less common. This has direct consequences for economic security, especially in the numerous societies (and particularly, their rural sectors), where pensions are paid only to a small proportion of older persons who are eligible because of earlier employment in the former sectors or few older persons who were able to save or invest for their old age. Even in countries where pensions are more generally available, the burden of an ageing population is increasingly being regarded as unsustainable, particularly since there is an increasing tendency for those able to do so to take early retirement. For many, especially women, there is a real threat of poverty in old-age, and this problem may be exacerbated by social exclusions and the deteriorating health conditions experienced by many older persons particularly, women at more advanced ages. Care of the frail and disabled becomes increasingly problematic, both in terms of stress placed on care providers and care-givers and also the mobilization of the appropriate resources of families, agencies and programmes to meet even the basic needs of older persons. According to Peil (1991), as life expectancy rises, young couples are more likely to be called upon to provide for their older parents than these parents were at the same stage of the life cycle, at a time when increasing emphasis on educating one’s children, rampant inflation and widespread unemployment of young adults make adequate provisions for older parents difficult. The situation among older people without children of their own were even more pathetic. For instance, old people who have no living children tend to risk the chances of isolation and lack of support. Personality is another very crucial factor to be considered; this is because, personality can make considerable difference to the help received. For example, an older person who was hard to get along with is more likely to lack support than the cheerful old person who gets along well with family and neighbours (Peil, 1991). All these are important variables, which determine whether individuals will receive adequate care and support from family and society. It is evident from the various literature that, very little attention has been paid to older people of modern industrializing societies of the world. In Nigeria for example, as well as in most developing countries, the need to plan for the welfare of older persons has received very little attention. There are clear evidences of lack of formal social support services for older people in Nigeria, such as Social Securiy, Pension, Health Insurance Scheme, Old Peoples Home, etc. One of the explanatory factors arises from the belief that the existing extended family system generally protects and provides for the welfare of old people in rural and agricultural societies. Hence, where an older person is childless, his/her brothers or sisters or even the children of his siblings are believed to be responsible for his/her maintenance. This may not be unconnected with why most policies, programmes and projects in the developing countries such as Nigeria have been concentrated on the children and the youths at the expense of older persons in the country. Both national and international organizations are seen working tirelessly on programmes and projects that would benefit the children and the youths, forgetting that the children and the youths of today would be the adult and older persons in the near future. Such beliefs and practices give the impression that the aged, unlike children, represent a discomforting second-order dependency on the younger working generation. But it should be mentioned at this juncture that old people are not always dependent on others for survival. For example, old age may not necessarily symbolize dependency especially in modern Nigeria in which the possession of landed property by older people and access to business opportunities may earn them some income. Hence, while it is generally believed that old people in general depend on the younger people for their survival, it can be equally true that some younger people do depend on such old people for their survival. In fact, some older persons in Nigeria may be rich enough to provide educational assistance for the children of their brothers and sisters as well as their own. Put differently, the prevailing view of older people as a ‘social problem’ emphasizes the ‘burden’ of older people in the population. This negative and blinkered vision has almost entirely neglected the provision of care by older people themselves, although there are some notable exceptions. It should also be said that prevailing ‘social problem’ focus has stigmatized older people as a dependent and unproductive group. This negative stereotyping is partly because of invisibility of informal work as a contribution to society. Older people are givers as well as receivers through their substantial caring for other older people, unpaid domestic work, care for grandchildren and voluntary work. However, it should be mentioned that differences occur between male and female in terms of access to, and possession of wealth in the society. This, in turn, leads to differences in the care and support given and received by older men and women in the society. This we must emphasized has affected older persons’ attitude towards child sex preference as old age security globally and particularly in Nigeria society. A pronounced preference of parents to have male children has been noted in a number of countries, although a desire for a balanced number of sons and daughters is also common (Williamson, 1976; Arnold and Kuo, 1984). Son preference is particularly prevalent in countries with strong patriarchal system or tradition (Cleland, Verrall, and Vaessen, 1983; Cho, Arnold, and Kwon, 1982; Freedman and Coombs, 1994). The extent of son preference has been the subject of considerable discussion and debate in most literature. Sons are preferred for a variety of reasons, including family name propagation, old age security, provision of labour, and the performance of ancestral rites (Wolf, 1985; Zhao and Zhu, 1983). Also, the Fifth National Women’s Congress (1983); Haupt (1983); Li (1982); Liu (1984); Tien (1985); Wolf (1985); all maintained that traditionally, sons were considered advantageous for two economic reasons, namely: support for their parents in old age and the provision of labour for the farm or family business. They argued further that the former is still an important consideration in most societies, despite the recent introduction of some forms of social security. So much has been written about social change that it is really not of much use for us to start a process of seeking definitions. At the level of the daily lives of ordinary citizens, it is even doubtful whether our people are really interested, one way or the other, in what intellectual ideas may really be. It is the manifestations of their collective cynicism towards this concept that one feels ought to worry us, unless we are able to capture the reasons for this drift, we run the risk of merely speaking to ourselves. The concept of social change may mean different things to different people, depending on the available indicators in any given social milieu. Many sociologists view social change in the structure of society or alteration of the social structure (Morris Ginsberg, 1958:205). Others stress that social change is not only a change in the structure, but also in the functioning of society. According to Allen, (1971:39) social change comprises modifications in social systems or subsystems in structure, functioning, or process over some period of time. It should be mentioned at this juncture that quiet a number of scholars have adopted a number of different definitions/approaches to the study of social change at various levels. (For more details see Amitai (1964), Appelbaum (1970), DeVries, (1961), Peter, (1966), Moore & Ogburn, (1922), etc. ) In spite of the cynical attitudes of the people about the concept of social change, effort is made to give a working definition of social change within the context of this paper. Social change within the context of this paper can be defined as he transformation of culture and social institutions over time. It should be mentioned at this juncture that our society has experienced social change over the past two or more centuries. Nigeria, like any other country of the world, has changed particularly, in the area of agriculture, urbanization, industrialization, family/personal relationships. Social change has influenced nearly every aspect of our life. Although, we should also mention here that people are not equally affected by these changes. This is because social change affects different people in different ways, depending on sex, age, work experience, location, class, size of cohort, economic resources (individual, familial and national), norms inherited from the past, individual’s live experiences and personality. All these are important variables, which determine how individuals are advantaged or disadvantaged by their position. Reasons for having children In many Third World countries or societies, having a large family is an eminently rational strategy of survival. Children’s labour particularly that of sons is a vital part of the family economy in many peasant communities of Africa in general, and in Nigeria in particular. Children help on the fields, tend animals, fetch water and wood, and care for their younger brothers and sisters freeing their parents for other tasks. Quite early in life, children’s labour makes them an asset rather than a liability on family income (Betsy Hartman, 1998) . In urban settings, children often earn income as servants, messengers, etc, or else stay at home to care for younger children while their parents’ work. Among the Yoruba community in Nigeria, demographer John Caldwell (1982) found that even urban professional families benefit from many children through ‘sibling assistance chains’. As one child completes education and takes a job, he or she helps younger brothers and sisters move up the educational and employment ladder, thus the connections and the influence of the family spread. Another reason for having many children, according to Cain (1983) is security. According to him, in many Third World societies, the vast majority of the population has no access to insurance schemes, pension plans, or government social security. For instance, in Nigeria, little or nothing is known, said or done about social security, i. e. about how to guarantee the individual against want, poverty, destitution, disease and idleness which may be thrust upon him by the varied hazards and vicissitudes of social life: notably loss or suspension of income or means of sustenance, resulting from sickness, maternity, injury, invalidity, old age, death of a breadwinner or unemployment. According to Nwabueze (1989) there is no clear statement of policy regarding social security and little is spent on it by the state, except in the capacity of the employer. This neglect manifests itself in the hordes of the elderly people engaged in public alms solicitation in our urban cities in the country at large, and most especially in southwestern Nigeria. One of the reasons adduced for the policy neglect is that, children are expected to care for their parents in their old age. Without them, one’s future is endangered. The help of grown up children, particularly male children, can then be crucial in surviving the periodic crisis-illness, drought, floods, food shortages, land disputes, political upheavals, which, unfortunately, punctuate village life in most parts of the world. Folbre (1983) further maintained that, in most developing countries of the world in general, and in Nigeria in particular, son preference can be another important motive for having larger families. The subordination of women means that, economically and socially daughters are less or not valued as highly as sons in many cultures, particularly among the Yoruba of the southwest Nigeria, most especially in the traditional era. Not only does daughters’ domestic work have less prestige, but daughters typically provide fewer years of productive labour to their parents, and leave home to live with their husbands and in-laws shortly after puberty. Son’s preference, combined with high infant and child mortality rates, means that parents must have many children just to ensure that one or two sons survive so as to serve as old-age security, most especially in the face of economic uncertainty. As a corollary to the above point, Lappe et al (1979) maintained that in the 1960s, an Indian couple had to bear an average of 6. 3 children to be confident of having one son who would survive to adulthood. Male dominance in the family, patriarchal social mores, the systematic exclusion of women from the development process, and the absence of decent birth control services combine to force many women into having more children than they want. Put differently, the social environment, in effect, leaves them (women) little or no reproductive choice. Thus, there is tendency among them, to have more children in order to guarantee the future of the lineage. Sex Preferences and Worldwide Patterns Parental preference for sons over daughters is a common phenomenon in many parts of the world. Son preference has been well documented in a large number of countries, including Nigeria. But the degree of such preference varies substantially from one country to another, depending on such factors as the level of economic development, social norms, level of education, cultural and religious practices, marriage and family systems, degree of urbanization, and the nature of social security systems available. The preference for sons tend to be particularly pronounced in developing countries, in rural areas, and among more traditional couples and couples of lower socio-economic status. Although son preference is still common even in many economically developed countries (Bennett, 1983), this preference often exists side by side with parents’ desire to have, at least, one child of each sex. The World Fertility Survey (WFS) found that son preference was moderately strong in Lesotho and the Sudan, and very strong in Jordan and Syria. In Asia, son preference was found to be weak among women from Indonesia (except for the first child). The survey also found a moderate degree of son preference in Malaysia, Thailand, and SriLanka, and son preference was extremely strong in Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, and South Korea. The WFS result for Asia generally agrees quite closely with the findings of Williamson (1976), who reviewed the literature on sex preferences throughout the world in the mid 1970s (Arnold and Liu; 1986). Further, son preference has been found to be prevalent in all East Asia and among groups outside of that region that share a heritage of Confucian patriarchal tradition. According to Arnold and Kuo (1984:301), son preference in South Korea and Taiwan is both pervasive and extreme. This finding has been confirmed by a number of other studies (see Williamson, 1976; Coombs and Sun, 1981; Cho, Arnold and Kwon, 1982; Chung, Cha, and Lee, 1974). In spite of the foregoing, it should be mentioned that in some countries, couples exhibit little or no son preference, and there are even a few instances in which a preference for daughters has been documented. For example, WFS found that considerably more women wanted a daughter for their next child than a son in Jamaica and Venezuela (Cleland, Verrall, and Vaessen, 1983). The WFS also found little or no sex preference of any type in most South America countries, in parts of the Caribbean and in Kenya and so on, to mention but a few (Arnold and Liu, 1986). Sex Preference among the Yoruba Concern among the Yoruba of Southwest Nigeria about son preference, as an old age security is a long-standing one. Mao Zedong vividly depicted this problem in a talk with Edgar Snow in 1970. â€Å"In the country side, a woman still wants a boy child. If the first and second babies are girls, she will make another try. If the third one comes and is still a girl, the mother would try again. Pretty soon, there are nine of them, Then, the mother is already over 45 or so and she finally decides to leave it at that† (cited in Katagiri and Terao, 1972:2). A variety of historical, moral, ethical, and economic factors underlie son preference among the Yoruba of Southwest Nigeria. In the past, the male patriarch dominated the family in Nigeria, and the practice of ancestor worship gradually developed. Hence, the patriarchal family structure and the resulting strong preference for sons became institutionalized values among the Yoruba. These traditions also stress the importance of carrying on the family line through male progeny. Traditionally, apart from social prestige and the felt need to continue the family line, the existence of sons among the Yoruba is considered advantageous for two economic reasons. These are, support for their parents in old age and the provision of labour for the farm or family business. The former is still an important consideration in Nigeria in general, and among the Yoruba of Southwest in particular, despite the recent introduction of some forms of social security in Nigeria. Other reasons for sex preference among the Yoruba include son’s financial contribution to the family income; emotional support and the need for sons to meet religious obligations, and so on. Finally, the productive utility of sons is still an important factor underlying son preference among the Yoruba, where traditional notions about the appropriate division of labour by sex are still prevalent. Child Sex Preference, Old Age Security and the Welfare of the Elderly. Income in later life may come from a variety of sources, including earnings, family members, the children, the state or charity. The balance of these sources has shifted over time as a result of social change, modernization, urbanization, westernization, education of women, more women in formal sector of the economy, coupled with the cracks in the extended family tie and introduction of pension systems by government. In particular, older people’s economic reliance on their children or older people’s reliance on their children as old-age security has declined, allowing them the dignity of financial independence of kin. The twenty-first century has seen a dramatic shift in the sources of income of older people in both industrialized and non-industrialized countries of the world, but the changes differ profoundly according to gender. For men, the change has been from mainly earnings to mainly pensions, while for women, the change has mainly been from reliance on family members (particularly the children), to income from private business and the support from the spouse. Heavy reliance on private support and support from spouses have not guaranteed or ensured women’s economic security in later life and this has further led to gender inequality of income among older people (Ginn, 2001). Having said the foregoing, it is germane to mention that the old-age security and child sex (gender) preference are two highly controversial hypotheses regarding the influence of household fertility and welfare in less-developed and developing countries of the world such as Nigeria. The old-age security hypothesis postulates that in environments where parents face uncertainty about the ability to support themselves during old age, they would expect such support from their children (Raut, 1996:81-104). This motive could be strong particularly in rural areas of less-developed or developing countries such as Nigeria, particularly among rural dwellers of the Yoruba of Southwest Nigeria where available resources both financial and physical (materials) tend to yield low or negative interest. Therefore, these are not able to provide for parents’ needed welfare at old age, so that children may provide a more efficient hedge against old age disability risks (Raut, 1985; 1990; 1992; Nerlove and Raut, 1995; Cain, 1981; 1983; Nerlove, Razin, and Sadka, 1987 and Nugent, 1985). The gender preference hypothesis postulates that parents exhibit preference for having children of a particular sex. In most developing or less-developed societies, parents seem to have preference for sons rather than daughters. The preference for sons may be rooted purely in taste and cultural values or it could be the outcome of some economic calculations. For instance, sons generally stay with their parents, while daughters are married off to another household or family, so that sons tend to provide better support in old-age as well as augment current household income. The extent to which the preference for sons occurs as an economic response to underdeveloped capital markets and incomplete risk markets has been a long-standing issue in economic demography literature. Ben Porath and Welch (1976); Heer (1983); and Leung (1988) have examined the consequences of this motive for population growth, and sex ratio. Also, the consequences of child sex preference (sons preference) on the allocation of human capital and bequest among children have been discussed by Behrman, Pollak and Taubman, (1982). Generally, children are expected to provide long term net benefit streams by supplying labour for family enterprises, generating monetary income stream, providing for old-age security, and acting as a form of insurance. In a setting of risk and uncertainty, parents engage in strategies to influence the pattern and guarantee the reliability of long-term intergenerational benefit flows. Such self-interested strategies to promote parental well-being at old age include conditional inheritance benefits, practices controlling the mobility of children, and sex differentiated educational and nutritional investments. According to Fapounda et al (1988), West African parents invest more in the education of male children since the financial returns on their education are relatively high. On the other hand, parents are more oriented towards the receipt of a one-time financial payment, a bride price, from the marriage of their daughters than to an economically uncertain investment in their daughters’ schooling (Fapounda et al 1988). Caldwell further maintained that, in rural Nigeria, for example, one of the reasons for sons preference is that, male children (boys) produce more than they consume by the age of ten to thirteen; and by the age of fifteen their total production has exceeded their cumulative life-time consumption. Although, female children (girls) likewise perform a number of valuable economic tasks, which include helping their mothers with cooking and the post-harvest processing of crops etc. , this is insignificant when compared to the contributions of their male counterparts to the family economy (Caldwell, 1982). Today, the expected increase in the absolute number and proportion of the elderly raises serious concerns about their welfare in the country, particularly given the absence of social security scheme and formal social welfare services for the old in most African countries. A number of studies have therefore, focused on examining the extent to which the family is involved in providing assistance to the elderly (Peil, 1995; Apt and Katila, 1994; and Togonu-Bickersteth, 1989, 1997). All confirm that the families, particularly children, are the principal source of old-age support in the various African countries studied. It has also been found that assistance is usually offered by children to ensure some level of physical and economic survival for their elderly to the extent that the former can afford. By contrast, parents in industrialized countries and their affluent counterparts among Third World urban elite have much less need to rely on children either for labour or old-age security. The economics of family size changes as income goes up, until children become a financial burden instead of an asset (Folbre, 1983). According to him, when children are in school, for example, they no longer serve as a source of labour. Instead parents must pay for their education, as well as for their other needs, which cost far more in a high consumption society than in a peasant village. And there is often no guarantee that parents’ investment will buy the future loyalty of a grown up child. As economist Nancy Folbre (1983) noted, â€Å"The gift of education, unlike a bequest, cannot be made contingent upon conformity to certain expectations. Once given, it can hardly be revoked†. In industrialized societies personal savings, pension plans, and overnment programs replace children as the basic forms of social security. These social changes fundamentally alter the value of children, making it far more rational from an economic standpoint, to limit family size. Folbre (1983) also argued that as the value of children decreases, male heads of households are more willing to allow their wives to work outside the home, since the contribution of their wages to the family economy now exceeds the value of their household work. This further spurs low demand for children and less craze sex preference of a particular child.