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SEOUL : In South Korea, where the Confucian spirit remains strong, sons were always preferred over daughters.
But a recent survey shows this trend may be changing.
The Korea Institute of Child Care and Education found that 38 per cent of mothers-to-be wanted a daughter, while 31 per cent said they preferred a son.
Among fathers-to be, 37 per cent wanted a daughter and 29 per cent a son.
The survey was conducted in 2008 but the results were only recently released.
Lee Yong Hoon recently became a proud father - and he couldn't be happier that it's a baby girl.
"She is so pretty. I really think that if it was a son the feelings would be different. She is just so adorable," said Lee.
Lots of Korean parents these days admit it's more fun bringing up girls than boys.
"My daughter always calls me asking me when I am going to be home after work, and whether I had eaten or not. She pays a lot of attention while my son doesn't call me like that. I feel like my daughter is always near me," said Kim Mun Sang, a Korean father.
"With people having only one child these days, there are more exchanges going on between mothers and their children. As we get older, I am able to become more of a friend to my daughter," said Kim Yeon Hee, a Korean mother.
Experts said the change could be a result of Korean parents becoming less dependent on support from their children.
In the past, parents used to rely on their sons to support them after they retired.
"Much of the responsibility to give economic support to the elderly has shifted to the social safety nets, and so the need to have sons have somewhat weakened," explained Lee Jeong Rim, a researcher at the Korea Institute of Child Care and Education.
20 years ago, when Korean parents could decide on the sex of their child, there were 116.5 baby boys for every 100 girls born.
That ratio has been falling steadily.
In 2008, there were 106.4 boys for every 100 girls, a number that's within the international average.
This is good news, but for South Korea, the biggest problem right now is that South Korea has one of the world's lowest birth rate in the world
And so whether it's a girl or a boy, the government is urging Koreans to make more babies. - CNA/ls
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