Between having a male or female child – By USHA ANENGA
The term “garbage in, garbage out” originated in the computer science and
information technology fields to illustrate the fact that the quality of
the output received from a computer program depends on the quality of
input. Simply put, what you put in is what you get out.
All children are a gift, an amazing blessing from God. However, in Africa,
a high premium is placed on having male children. Amongst a few reasons,
the major one is that only a male child can maintain a family name and
inheritance, as a female child will eventually drop her family name for
that of her husband when she marries.
Oftentimes in this quest to maintain the family name, the woman is under
pressure to produce a male child. In cases where she keeps giving birth to
girls and not boys, she is blamed for it. Pressure from in-laws most times
leads to divorce, and the husband will continue to marry or sexually engage
other women until a male child is born. This scenario is not only limited
to illiterates as we see it happening even amongst well schooled and
educated individuals.
However, suffice to make abundantly clear that a woman has little or
nothing to do with determining the sex of the baby she will produce, rather
it is the man who determines the sex of the child.
A baby is produced when a man’s sperm cell fertilizes the woman’s egg. Both
carry sex chromosomes; sperm cells carrying either X or Y chromosomes while
the egg always carries an X chromosome.
If an egg is fertilized by an X-bearing sperm cell, it will result into a
baby girl and if it is fertilized by a Y-bearing sperm cell, the resulting
baby will be a boy. Therefore, the man’s sperm cell holds the key to a
baby’s gender, not the woman’s egg.
By this, let’s give our women breathing space and cut them some slack when
it concerns this issue. If you particularly want a male or female child so
badly, give it to your wife and she’ll produce it for both of you. It’s
garbage in, garbage out!
Usha Anenga is a Medical Doctor and writes from Makurdi, Benue State. He is
reachable via [email protected]