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Boy or Girl

Should You Choose the Sex of Your Child?

By Virginia Gilbert

In 1998, scientists at the Genetic and IVF Institute in Fairfax, Virginia stunned the medical community by patenting Microsort, a mechanical sperm sorter that gives potential parents a 90 percent chance of determining the sex of their child. Although this technique sounds like something out of a sci-fi novel, the practice of gender selection has been around in one form or another almost since the beginning of time.

To get a boy, the men of ancient Greece had sex while lying on their right side. Their counterparts in 18th century France actually tied off their left testicle to attain a male child. And according to classical Chinese theory, a woman could choose her baby's gender even into the third month of pregnancy: handling pearls would bring a girl; holding a bow and arrow, a boy.

As whimsical as they seem now, these methods often demonstrate deep-rooted cultural biases for children of a certain sex. In India and China, for example, the desire for a male child is still so strong that sex-selective abortion (SSA) is an accepted practice. In fact, it wasn't until 1998 that, in order to prevent SSA, the state legislature of Mahrashtra, India passed a law banning the use of prenatal testing for the purpose of sex selection.

Although the degree of preference for male infants in these cultures seems chilling, it's sadly understandable given the economic conditions that favor boys. In countries such as India, Southeast Asia, Egypt and Pakistan, sons are often needed to earn wages for the family. Sons may receive a large dowry when they marry. And they provide financial support for aging parents. Daughters, on the other hand, are expensive: parents must raise funds to purchase a dowry for them.

Girls in patriarchal societies may face grim futures, as implied by the following adage: "Even the beams of the house shed tears when a girl is born." Depending on the country, girls are less likely to attend school than boys. In Southeast Asia, for example, more boys than girls are vaccinated against childhood diseases. According to a recent Demographic and Health Survey (DHS), discrimination in medical care in Pakistan, Egypt, India and Bangladesh accounts for a skewed female mortality rate: girls ages one to four are almost two-thirds more likely to die than boys. If they do survive childhood, women in Bangladesh, Cameroon, India and Senegal face another hardship. The DHS determined that it is more common for married women in these countries to get divorced if they "fail" to produce a boy.

Want to see more?

• Read part two here.

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