Daughter preference describes human families seeking to bear and raise daughters, rather than sons. It is unclear whether this phenomenon is due to their greater preference for daughters or a specific antipathy toward sons. This phenomenon can often persist across generations.
Daughter preference is evident in contemporary Japan [1] and Japanese-American immigrant families. [2] South Korea has also demonstrated a measurable shift from son preference to daughter preference. [3] [4] Daughter preference appears at measurable levels in three Scandinavian countries: Denmark, Norway, and Sweden [5] ; as well as the Eastern European nations of the Czech Republic, Estonia, and Hungary. [6] Study found that a significant contributing factor to daughter preference was the "number of wife's sisters." [7] In the matrilineal inheritance system of Malawi, daughter preference emerges if all existing children are sons. [8]
Daughter preference or son preference is sometimes expressed by higher levels of household investment in offspring of preferred gender. [9]