Religion and Gender Bias: An Exploration of Hindu-Muslim Differences in Son Preference in India

While the existence of son preference in India is well-known in the literature, a key gap in our understanding of the determinants of son preference relates to potential differences that may exist between religious groups. This paper examines data from two waves of the National Family and Health Survey, 1998-99 and 2005-06 to determine if and to what extent does son preference differ between Hindus and Muslims, the two largest religious groups in India. The analysis of two indicators of son preference is proposed: latent son preference, measured by women’s self-reported preferred sex composition of children. A second indicator is proposed: revealed son preference, measured by parity progression ratios, conditional on sex of any previous children, indicating actual son-targeting fertility behaviors. Thus we will be able to compare and contrast differences between Hindus and Muslims related to both latent preferences and actual behaviors. The preliminary analysis of latent preferences shows that Muslim have lower son preference compared to Hindus. The effect of religion remains strongly significant after controlling for known socioeconomic determinants of son preference, suggesting that religious beliefs and practices especially among the majority Hindus may be a key cultural explanation for the persistence of son preference.