A Study on the Son Preference and Related Factors among married Women in Metro Manila Philippines

필리핀 기혼 여성의 남아선호와 관련변인에 대한 연구 -메트로 마닐라 지역을 중심으로

The purpose of this study was to investigate the phenomenon of son preference and the related factors among married women in Metro Manila Philippines and to compare between Filipino women and Chinese-Filipino women in many respects. Local schools were contacted for recruitment of participants (n=206) The results showed that more than a half of the respondents(54.5%) preferred a son for the first child. On the other hand almost a half(44.7%) preferred a daughter for the second child. It is interesting that almost a third of married women showed an equal preference between a son and a daughter for the first child (34.2%) and the second child (31.2%) The results of multiple regression analysis revealed that son preference was most strongly related to women's patriarchal attitude and orientation and secondly to a strong son preference for the first child. Two groups of women Filipino and Chinese-Filipino were compared in the level of parental support and expectation for sons and d ughters perception of women's position in family and society patriarchal attitudes and orientation sex preference for the first and the second child reasons of son preference and demographic characteristics. It was found that filipino women tended to prefer a daughter for the second child much more and to perceive women's position much higher than Chinese-Filipino women. Filipino mothers showed an equal level of support and expectations for sons and daughters much more than Chinese groups. For the reasons of son preference it was notable that Filipino women tended to rely on sons in old age much more than Filipino counterparts. Based on the findings of this study three factors were found strong enough to drawour attention. Daughter preference high position of women and equal support for sons and daughters appeared to be closely related in a meaningful way. Future studies need to focus on the relationships among three factors in depth Three factors suggest some important direction tha a strong son preference country like Korea need to head forward in a near future.