South Korean parents starting to prefer daughters over sons

Jan 28, 2010, 9:38 GMT

Seoul - South Korea's traditional preference for sons over daughters is changing, with many young parents believing that girls lead to a closer, better bonded family.

A survey of 2,078 parents-to-be between April and July 2009 by the Korea Institute of Child Care and Education found that 37.9 per cent of mothers-to-be said they wanted a daughter, 31.3 per cent wanted a son and the rest said they didn't have a preference.

'The son preference is no longer valid among young parents because they feel a daughter can be more rewarding than sons emotionally, physically and economically,' said Lee Jung Rim, a researcher who conducted the survey.

The finding reverses the Asian country's die-hard preference for sons over daughters.

While older generation South Koreans preferred sons as the carriers of the family bloodline, many younger parents see daughters as more emotionally sincere, physically less troublesome and financially more rewarding than sons.

On the emotional side, parents have found that daughters usually grow up to be more expressive and caring about their parents than sons.

Sons will be scarce visitors to the parental home when they grow up but daughters become more caring about their parents even if they marry themselves, many South Koreans believe.

'I feel that a daughter could bring us more joy than a son as she would talk more and express herself better. Father and daughter seems like a better match than father and son,' said Lee Jong Pil, 28, who is about to have a baby with his wife.

The country's growing number of career women may also help tip the balance in favour of daughters over sons as the long-standing belief that men always hold higher business positions than women begins to fade. In South Korea, a growing number of women have begun to occupy management position in business, banking and education.

From the biological perspective, as is the case in the West, women in South Korea are usually giving birth to their first baby at the average age of 30, which leaves less time for children.

Mothers have often said that sons tend to be more physically demanding than daughters. As mothers jokingly say, 'If you have two sons, you would already look like someone in your 40s when you are only in your 30s after days of wrestling with boys. If you have two daughters, you would still look like someone in your 20s after days of being entertained by chattering daughters.'