The document discusses gender-biased sex selection in Georgia, highlighting a significant historical shift from one of the highest sex ratios at birth to more normalized levels over 26 years. It identifies root causes such as preference for male heirs, socio-economic conditions, and cultural norms, while also noting the implications including declining female reproductive cohorts and male marriage squeezes. Future research aims to explore variations in son preference across diverse familial and socio-economic contexts.

2. Tamta Maridashvili
Stockholm, 2018
Gender-Biased Sex Selection
The Case of Georgia

3. THE WAYS TO SELECT SEX
— Sex Selection can take place before pregnancy, prenatally,
following birth or through stopping behavior
— The most prevalent ways to select sex are abortion and
stopping behavior
— The result is a rise of sex ratio at birth (SRB)
— The natural norm of SRB is 105 male births per 100 female
births

4. GENDER-BIASED SEX SELECTION
— Rarely a topic of discussion until the 1990s
— In the 1990s, it turned out that certain regions such as Asia,
south-east Europe and the countries of the South Caucasus
suffered from the malpractice of gender biased sex selection
— Country experiences: the root causes, determinants and
consequences seem to be similar

5. OUR FOCUS: GEORGIA
— A unique experience: from one of the highest sex ratios at birth in
the world back to normal levels after 26 years
— Desk research mostly based on UNFPA studies:
— Trends
— Root causes and determinants of biased sex selection
— Its consequences
— A quantitative study is planned with the purpose of formulating
targeted policy recommendations

6. ESTIMATED SEX RATIO AT BIRTH, 1990-2016
102
104
106
108
110
112
114
116
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
AverageSexRatioatBirth(malebirthstofemalebirths)
Source: UNFPA 2017

7. VARIATIONS IN SEX RATIO AT BIRTH
Gender composition Birth order Total Source
1 2 3+
At least one previous
son
― 104.1 106.9 105.1
Census-based
estimates
No previous son 107.2 108.1 173.8 110.9
Census-based
estimates
Sex ratio at birth by parity and gender composition, 2010-2014
Source: UNFPA 2017
— Variations across the regions
— Variation connected to ethnicity

8. THE ROOT CAUSE
— Preference for male heirs:
— Labor division in society according to ecological conditions –
plough agriculture (Korotayev, 2003)
— Men – the main contributors to the family
Result: patrilocal and patrilineal family structure
Daughters – a mere cost (education, health and dowry)
(Araviashvili, 2015)

9. PERSISTENCE OF THE SOCIAL NORM
— In 82 per cent of multigenerational families in Georgia, spouses
live with the husband’s parents - a current pattern similar to the
2002 figures
— According to the Caucasus Barometer 2010 survey, in cases
where parents had only one child, 46 per cent of respondents
preferred a son, 9 per cent preferred a girl, and 45 per cent said
it did not matter.

10. THE DETERMINANTS
— Post-Soviet period hardships:
— Family as a safety net
— Fertility rates decreased
— The arrival of technologies for the early determination of sex

11. THE CONSEQUENCES
— The cohort of women of reproductive age has been gradually
decreasing (UNFPA, 2015)
— Male marriage squeeze – potential grooms exceed potential
brides (UNFPA, 2012)
— Pressure on women to produce a son leading to domestic
violence, abandonment or divorce

12. POTENTIAL FACTORS BEHIND THE DECREASE OF
SRB
— The strengthening of state institutions and social security system
— a) universal pension system, which provides a flat rate benefit to all elderly-
above the subsistence minimum; b) social assistance, which represents a
monthly subsidy to poor families and c) a universal health insurance system
— Increased role of a religious institutions.In 2016 Patriarch particularly
stigmatized abortion as “a terrible sin” and initiated the idea of its
abolition.According to the last (2014) census, 83.4% of the Georgian
population is Orthodox and Church is the most trustworthy institution
in the nation.
— New cultural influences from theWest

13. WHAT WE PLAN TO DO
— Track the variation of son preference in families (since 2004)
based on
— Individual characteristics of parents (age, ethnicity, education,
employment status, etc.)
— Family characteristics (income, different social types of assistance
received, remittances received, household composition, etc.)
— Geographical location (urban/rural, local economic conditions: level
of unemployment, economic growth, aggregate participation of
women in the labor force, etc.)
— Apart from these variables, in order to measure the impact of the
change in social economic policy on son preference, specific
institutional changes will be captured by using specific (time
varying) dummy variables to capture possible structural breaks