Do Australian parents want both a son and a daughter?
About the project
The 'Having Children in Australia' study investigates parents' desire
for both a son and a daughter.
In many traditional societies there is a preference to have at least
one son. In modern societies it is often found that parents want a child
of each sex.
This project centres on whether sons and daughters are valued for different
reasons in modern Australia.
It examines whether parents have larger families than they may have
originally planned, in order to have a family with at least one son
and one daughter. The project also measures the impact of this on completed
family size and fertility levels in Australia.
The researchers' analysis of census and other data shows Australia's
fertility is kept from being very low because of the relatively high
proportion of families with three or more children.
The researchers have also found that:
