Americans have a slight preference for boys over girls, when it comes to pregnancy according to a July 5th Gallup poll. Thirty-six percent say they would prefer a boy over 28 percent saying they would prefer a girl. The remaining 36 percent said that the sex of the baby didn’t matter to them or that they didn’t have an opinion.
Since 1941, Gallup has polled this question 11 times, there has been an average 11-point gap in the preference for boys over girls. In 1947 there was a 15 point gap and in 2000 there was a four point gap. “The current eight-point preference for a boy, from a June 1-13 poll, is slightly lower than the 12-point gap in Gallup's last measure, from 2011,” reports the Gallup poll.
The trend of American families having a preference for boys over girls is not new. In fact, it is a 77-year long trend. There is a significant preference among men for a boy and a more closely divided difference among women for a boy. Over the timespan which Gallup has repeatedly posed this question, men have expressed preference for a boy by an average of 25 points. However women have expressed preference for a girl by an average of three points. Male preference for a boy is only slightly diminished with a 19-point gap being the lowest in 1990. We saw the largest gap in men in 2000 when 55 percent said they would prefer a boy as opposed to 18 percent expressing preference for a girl.
Sex preferences among women are almost tied however, with 31 percent expressing preference for a boy with 30 percent expressing preference for a girl. The highest preference amongst women for a girl over a boy was seven points in both 1990 and 1996.
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It is important to note that Gallup’s poll is preferenced upon the fact that those polled could only have one child.
Perhaps we can see the reason for this preference of boys over girls in the results of another Gallup poll. Americans say that boys are easier to raise than girls by a 2-1 ratio.
Fifty- four percent of Americans say boys are easier to raise, and 27 percent say girls are easier to raise. Fourteen percent claim there is no difference in difficulty level of raising between the sexes. The overall opinion that boys are easier to raise than girls has been a trend since 1947, according to Gallup, by varying margins. When Gallup first posed the question in 1947, 42 percent said boys are easier to raise, 24 percent said girls are easier to raise and the remaining 24 percent held that there was no difference. Since 1990, the percentage of Americans that say boys are easier to raise has increased significantly, whereas the percentage say that there is no difference has declined.
Similar to the above study, where the majority of men show a preference for boy babies, men also tend to be of the opinion that boys are easier to raise. However, young adults also tend to hold that boys are easier to raise. Fifty-eight percent of men say boys are easier to rage. Young adults, defined by Gallup as those aged 18 to 29 hold that boys are easier to raise by 62 percent.
“Despite increasing emphasis on equality for women and women's rights in the U.S. in recent years, a majority of Americans continue to say that boys are easier to raise than girls. And while this belief is particularly widespread among men, women are much more likely to say so as well,” reports Gallup.
These preferences for boys and difficulty of raising, based on sex may be based on factors such as girls tend to be more emotional, especially during teenage years, in addition to considering the safety of a female child. This may explain why the majority of Americans over the age of 65 percent say that a girl is easier to raise, as the safety of a female child was less of a concern when this generation was raising children. But safety has become a heightened issue in recent years.
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