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sectlon For each Issue, the observations by ethnographic methods are presented
followed by results denved by other ep~demiological methods.
7.4.1 Gender preference in having chlldren
(a) Ethnoaraphlc methods
In group d~scuss~ons, both women and men seemed to prefer hanng sons
However
structured questlonnalre revealed that only 25 6% (411160) wanted to have sons wh~le
many (46 9%) preferred to have both a glrl and a boy About 15 0% d~d not mlnd a
ch~ld of elther sex whlle 12 5% preferred to have g~fis About 56 3% thought that boj;
were essential for economlc support and 52 5% wanted to have boys for canylng the
famlly name The vanous reasons obtalned on the St~~t~red quest~onnalre for
preferring a chlld of a part~cular gender are given In Tables 7.2A and 7.28 It was
observed that people dld not dlsllke girls The value of glrls was appreciated by many
people as regards look~ng after the parents when necessaly and helplng them In
housework
About 26 3% sald they would llke to have glds because they were
affect~onate helped them In housework and looked afler them In old age The maln
reason for not wantlng girls was the expense assouated w~th her mamage
Some
people (19 4%) considered that both g~rls and boys were equal these days and that
there was no difference between them because both went to work and earned The
lnvest~gator observed that In the study vlllage there were a couple of famll~es where
the w~fe had undergone tubectomy after havlng two daughters One of the key
lnfomlants mother remarked ' My ne~ghbour IS a sup&
lady. She has only two
daughters and has undergone family planning operat~on. She IS bnnglng them UP
Well and 1s qulte happy " 'Super means very good In wlloqulal tenlnology