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Hum. Reprod. Advance Access published online on October 24, 2006
Human Reproduction, doi:10.1093/humrep/del409
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© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org
Received August 3, 2005
Revised July 25, 2006
Accepted August 11, 2006

Article

Gender preferences and demand for preconception sex selection: a survey among pregnant women in Pakistan

F. Zubair 1, E. Dahl 2, S. Sher Shah 3, M. Ahmed 4, and B. Brosig 5 *

1 Clinic for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Marburg-Süd, Giessen, Germany
2 Centre for Gynaecology and Obstetrics, University of Giessen, Giessen, Germany
3 Departments of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Civil Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan
4 Department of Clinical Genetics, St. James’s University Hospital of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom
5 Clinic for Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University of Giessen, Giessen, Germany

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
B. Brosig, E-mail: burkhard.brosig{at}psycho.med.uni-giessen.de


  Abstract

BACKGROUND: In its recent report ‘Human Reproductive Technologies and the Law’, the House of Commons’ Select Committee on Science and Technology called for greater efforts to establish the potential demographic impact of sex selection across all sectors of UK society. Given the well-known preference for boys over girls among some communities, there is concern that a readily available service for social sex selection may upset the balance of the sexes. Of particular interest are the gender preferences and the demand for sex selection among Pakistanis. METHODS: We conducted a social survey on gender preferences and potential demand for preconception sex selection among 301 pregnant women in Karachi, Pakistan, using a self-report questionnaire consisting of 14 questions. RESULTS: About 41.5% wish to have a family with an equal number of boys and girls; 3.3% would like to have only boys, 1.0% only girls, 27.6% more boys than girls and 4.3% more girls than boys, and 22.3% stated that they do not care about the sex composition of their family. Whereas 6.3% could imagine employing cytometric sperm separation for social sex selection, 76.1% could not and 17.6% were undecided. About 27.2% felt that social sex selection ought to be legal, 48.8% thought it ought to be illegal and 23.9% were undecided. CONCLUSIONS: Although Pakistani women do show a statistically significant preference for boys over girls, the number of women willing to subject themselves to cytometric sperm separation appears to be too small to cause a severe imbalance of the sexes. However, further research among British citizens of Pakistani origin is needed to establish whether sex selection poses a serious threat to the sex ratio of UK communities.

Keywords: preconception sex selection/sex ratio/social survey/public policy.
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