Son preference and sex differentials in receipt of key dimensions of children’s healthcare: Evidence from Pakistan

Batool Zaidi

Population Studies, 2022, vol. 76, issue 2, 309-328

Abstract: Almost all research on son preference and the consequent sex differentials in child health has focused on India. Pakistan—a country with the second strongest stated desire for sons, no evidence of sex-selective abortion, and relatively high fertility—offers a different context in which to understand unequal health outcomes for boys and girls. I use three rounds of the Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey to examine sex differentials in child healthcare receipt across different family contexts. I find evidence of generalized discrimination: all girls, regardless of sibling composition or birth order, are less likely to receive full immunization or medical treatment. I do not find evidence that girls with older sisters face greater discrimination than other girls. For boys, I find some evidence of selective preferential treatment: among larger families, first sons are more likely to receive healthcare than other sons or daughters.

Date: 2022
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/00324728.2022.2032290 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:rpstxx:v:76:y:2022:i:2:p:309-328

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/rpst20

DOI: 10.1080/00324728.2022.2032290

Access Statistics for this article

Population Studies is currently edited by John Simons, Francesco Billari, James J. Brown, John Cleland, Andrew Foster, John McDonald, Tom Moultrie, Mikko Myrsklä, Alice Reid, Wendy Sigle-Rushton, Ronald Skeldon and Frans Willekens

More articles in Population Studies from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().