Sex Preferences for Children in Parental Time Use

Julia M. Hastenreiter, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG)
Bernardo L. Queiroz, Universidade Federal De Minas Gerais

Previous research have found evidence of a preference for sons in some countries, with fathers traditionally spending more time with sons, though recent studies indicate a shift towards more equal time allocation. Additionally, studies indicate that a child's gender can influence parental time spent on paid work. This paper seeks to investigate whether sex preferences for children impacts the amount of time parents dedicate to paid, unpaid childcare, and unpaid domestic work of mothers and fathers. We also aims to test three hypotheses are: (1) women generally spend more time on unpaid work than men; (2) households with more daughters tend to spend less time on childcare and housework; and (3) men with a preference for sons may spend more time on paid and unpaid work.

Keywords: Gender Dynamics, Families, Unions and Households, Inequality, Disadvantage and Discrimination

See extended abstract.