Gender Selection
In Canada, and like many other western countries, sex selection is not allowed. However, if it were legal, what do you predict the
outcome would be in Canada? Would you have any concerns?
One of the main objections to sex selection is that it may distort the natural sex ratio and lead to a gender imbalance in western society, as has occurred in countries such as India and China.
One of the leading German Institutes for Social Research and Statistical Analysis, did a randomized, computer-assisted telephone interview, and found that:
1) When asked if given a choice, would they want their first born child to be a male or female?
- 76% stated they do not care about the sex of their first born child.
2) When asked, if you have more than just one child, do you have a preference for your subsequent children?
- 30% wanted to have as many girls as boys
- 58% still stated that the sex of their children was of no importance
3) When asked if they would select the sex of their children using technology, if they could
- 92% were against it
According to this, there was no evidence, that Germans would have a strong preference for children of a particular sex. And if it holds true, a freely available service for sex selection is likely to have only negligible societal impact.
In Canada, only 39% claimed to have no preference, 22% preferred a boy and 39% preferred a girl
Overall, public attitudes appear to remain mixed about this topic.
One of the main objections to sex selection is that it may distort the natural sex ratio and lead to a gender imbalance in western society, as has occurred in countries such as India and China.
One of the leading German Institutes for Social Research and Statistical Analysis, did a randomized, computer-assisted telephone interview, and found that:
1) When asked if given a choice, would they want their first born child to be a male or female?
- 76% stated they do not care about the sex of their first born child.
2) When asked, if you have more than just one child, do you have a preference for your subsequent children?
- 30% wanted to have as many girls as boys
- 58% still stated that the sex of their children was of no importance
3) When asked if they would select the sex of their children using technology, if they could
- 92% were against it
According to this, there was no evidence, that Germans would have a strong preference for children of a particular sex. And if it holds true, a freely available service for sex selection is likely to have only negligible societal impact.
In Canada, only 39% claimed to have no preference, 22% preferred a boy and 39% preferred a girl
Overall, public attitudes appear to remain mixed about this topic.