Sons

It is difficult to overstate the importance
traditional Hindu culture has placed on
the need for sons, and the cultural bias
for sons over daughters. Religious
motives underlie one important reason
for this bias, since only sons are entitled
to perform the memorial offerings for
the dead known as shraddhas. The men
in each generation are responsible for
making these offerings to their ancestors. They are in turn obliged to have
sons of their own, so that the family lineage and the chain of ancestral offerings
remains unbroken through the generations. Sonless couples are not completely
out of luck, since sons can be obtained
through adoption.
The other major reason behind the
preference for sons lies in far more pragmatic motives. According to the traditional Indian marriage pattern, daughters move into their marital homes and
become members of their marital families, whereas sons bring their brides into
the home and through their own families continue the family line. Thus, parents sometimes see their daughters as
“temporary” family members, while
their sons are “permanent.” The sons
will dwell in their natal house their
entire lives, support their parents in
old age, and produce the family’s
future generations. These traditional
practices and beliefs still hold very
strong, although the forces of modernity
have affected the joint family. It has
become more common for husbands
and wives to live separately from the
husband’s parents.
The religious, economic, and social
factors behind this preference for sons
have sometimes had terrible consequences. Consciously or unconsciously,
sons may be favored over daughters in
many significant ways. Sons are often
given better access to education and
economic opportunities, because men
are traditionally required to support
their families. A similar presumption lies
behind the inequities in traditional
Hindu inheritance laws, which give
the sons a much larger share of the
inheritance. In poorer families, sons
may even get preference for basic needs
such as food and access to medical care.
Despite these patterns, in contemporary
times many families treat all their
children with equal love and care. Given
the trend toward smaller families, the
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Sons
birth of a daughter can be cause for as
much rejoicing as that of a son.