ABSTRACT

South Korea is the first country to shift from strong son preference to preferring daughters. This paper examines the factors associated with daughter preference, using data from the 2012 Korea General Social Survey, a nationally-representative survey of 1,379 people. The outcome variable was derived from the survey question, 'If you were to have one child, which one would you like to have - son, daughter, or no preference?' Multinomial logistic regression was used to examine the association between reported child gender preference and several social and cultural variables. 43 per cent of respondents preferred daughters, 36 per cent preferred sons, and 21 per cent were indifferent. The probability of preferring daughters over sons increased with exposure to Korea's social transformations (younger, more educated, and urban residents); and among those less vested in the traditional patriarchal norms (women, non-Buddhists, and less conservative views on gender roles). Other studies in South Korea find increasing intergenerational support between parents and daughters. This is no longer an agrarian society where aging parents depend financially on sons. Today people can save for retirement and have national health insurance. However, people live longer and need companionship and care which they feel daughters provide more than sons.

摘要

韩国是第一个从重男轻女转向重男轻女的国家。本文使用 2012 年韩国综合社会调查的数据，对 1,379 人进行了全国代表性调查，研究了与女儿偏好相关的因素。结果变量来自调查问题，“如果您要生一个孩子，您希望生哪一个——儿子、女儿，还是没有偏好？' 多项逻辑回归用于检查报告的儿童性别偏好与几个社会和文化变量之间的关联。43% 的受访者喜欢女儿，36% 喜欢儿子，21% 的人无所谓。随着韩国社会转型（更年轻、受教育程度更高和城市居民）的影响，重男轻女的可能性增加；以及那些不太受传统父权制规范的人（女性、非佛教徒和对性别角色不太保守的看法）。韩国的其他研究发现，父母和女儿之间的代际支持越来越多。这不再是一个年迈父母在经济上依赖儿子的农业社会。今天，人们可以为退休储蓄并拥有国民健康保险。然而，