Doctoral Dissertation Research: Global Labor Markets and Child Gender Preference in Rural Bangladesh

摘要提案1131757标题-博士论文研究：全球劳动力市场和儿童性别偏好在农村孟加拉国。这项研究的目的是检查之间的联系，经济变化，全球劳动力迁移，和儿童性别偏好在发展中国家正在经历快速生育率下降。这项研究评估了为什么孟加拉国农村地区的女儿似乎越来越受到重视，而男性劳动力则大量外流。通常，在南亚和东亚，生育率下降加剧了重男轻女的现象，中国就是如此。这种偏好归因于父母依靠儿子获得经济支持的家庭制度。然而，在孟加拉国农村地区，随着生育率下降和女儿越来越受到重视，男孩的偏好正在下降。这种文化变化可能与孟加拉国村庄日益融入全球劳动力市场和男性劳动力向外迁移有关，但经济变化与儿童性别偏好之间关系的细节仍不清楚。研究人员将在孟加拉国的一个农村地区进行访谈和人种学观察，以确定孟加拉国家庭是否开始更加重视女儿，并评估这是否是对男性劳动力外流和家庭规模急剧缩小的反应。该项目与当代全球经济发展问题相联系，是对最近更好地了解穆斯林社会的兴趣的回应。通过阐明经济和社会变化之间的相互作用，这项研究的结果可以为经济政策以及政府和非政府运动提供信息，以促进发展中地区妇女和女孩的健康，教育和福祉。 了解孟加拉国经济发展过程中家庭角色变化的原因和方式将具有跨国意义，因为孟加拉国农村地区存在的几个因素在世界其他地区也很常见，包括重男轻女、男性主导的劳动力市场、快速城市化和大规模的农村到城市的劳动力迁移。

Abstract for proposal 1131757Title - Doctoral Dissertation Research: Global Labor Markets and Child Gender Preference in Rural Bangladesh.The purpose of this research is to examine the connections between economic change, global labor migration, and child gender preference in a developing country undergoing rapid fertility decline. The research assesses why it appears that daughters in rural Bangladesh are becoming more highly valued alongside significant male labor outmigration. Usually, in South and East Asia, fertility decline intensifies son preference, as in China. That preference is attributed to family systems in which parents rely on sons for economic support. In rural Bangladesh, however, son preference is declining as fertility rates fall and daughters are becoming more highly valued. This cultural change may be related to the increasing integration of Bangladeshi villages into global labor markets and male labor out migration, but the details of the relationship between economic change and child gender preference remain unclear. The researcher will conduct interviews and ethnographic observation in a rural district in Bangladesh to determine if Bangladeshi families are beginning to value daughters more highly and to evaluate whether or not this is a reaction to male labor outmigration and a sharp decrease in family size. This project connects to contemporary global issues of economic development and is a response to recent interest in better understanding of Muslim societies. By elucidating the interplay between economic and social change, the results of this research can inform economic policy as well as government and non-government campaigns to promote health, education, and well-being of women and girls in developing areas. Understanding why and how familial roles change during economic development in Bangladesh will be meaningful transnationally because several of the elements that exist in rural Bangladesh are common in other parts of the world, including son preference, a male-dominated labor market, rapid urbanization, and large-scale rural-to-urban labor migration.