THE EFFECT OF GENDER ROLE ATTITUDES ON THE NUMBER OF CHILDREN AND CHILD GENDER PREFERENCE

Abstract

Fertility is a biological phenomenon for reproduction, yet it is influenced by cultural and social values. Therefore, to examine health problems related to high fertility in a society, it is necessary to determine the fertility-related behaviors and attitudes of that society. This research was conducted to determine the effect of gender roles attitude on the number of children and child gender preference. The sample of this descriptive study consisted of 101 women who were born and had spent most of their life in Şanlıurfa, who were married and had not yet reached menopause were included in the study. The data were collected by face-to-face interview method through the Data Collection Form and the Gender Roles Attitude Scale. In the study, in terms of gender roles, 8.9% of women had a traditionalist and 91.1% of them had an egalitarian attitude. Also, it was determined that socio-cultural factors such as education, working status, family type and ethnicity affect women's attitudes towards gender role, while gender roles attitudes have an effect on the number of children and gender preferences. According to the research findings, women with traditionalist gender role attitudes had higher number of children and preference for male children.