Doctoral Dissertation Research: Global Labor Markets and Child Gender Preference in Rural Bangladesh

University Of Missouri-Columbia, Columbia MO

Investigators

Abstract

Abstract for proposal 1131757 Title - Doctoral Dissertation Research: Global Labor Markets and Child Gender Preference in Rural Bangladesh. The purpose of this research is to examine the connections between economic change, global labor migration, and child gender preference in a developing country undergoing rapid fertility decline. The research assesses why it appears that daughters in rural Bangladesh are becoming more highly valued alongside significant male labor outmigration. Usually, in South and East Asia, fertility decline intensifies son preference, as in China. That preference is attributed to family systems in which parents rely on sons for economic support. In rural Bangladesh, however, son preference is declining as fertility rates fall and daughters are becoming more highly valued. This cultural change may be related to the increasing integration of Bangladeshi villages into global labor markets and male labor out migration, but the details of the relationship between economic change and child gender preference remain unclear. The researcher will conduct interviews and ethnographic observation in a rural district in Bangladesh to determine if Bangladeshi families are beginning to value daughters more highly and to evaluate whether or not this is a reaction to male labor outmigration and a sharp decrease in family size. This project connects to contemporary global issues of economic development and is a response to recent interest in better understanding of Muslim societies. By elucidating the interplay between economic and social change, the results of this research can inform economic policy as well as government and non-government campaigns to promote health, education, and well-being of women and girls in developing areas. Understanding why and how familial roles change during economic development in Bangladesh will be meaningful transnationally because several of the elements that exist in rural Bangladesh are common in other parts of the world, including son preference, a male-dominated labor market, rapid urbanization, and large-scale rural-to-urban labor migration.