Mothers favor daughters and fathers favor sons 

Are you a daddy’s girl or a mummy’s boy? If so, you may be bucking the general trend.

New research suggests that mother’s actually favor their daughters, while father’s favor their sons. 

In a scenario where a parent who is shopping has both a son and a daughter but only time to buy one surprise gift, a mother would have a high likelihood of buying something for her daughter, while a father would choose a gift for his son.

This unconscious gender bias may also have ramifications beyond the family unit. ‘If a woman is responsible for promotion decisions in the workplace, female employees may be more likely to benefit,’ says Dr Kristina Durante, a co-author of the research

HOW THEY DID IT  

A study by researchers based at the Society For Consumer Psychology suggests that mother’s actually favor their daughters, while father’s favor their sons.

In one of the experiments, the researchers recruited US participants who had a child of each gender, and each parent was told that they would be given a treasury bond of $25 for one of their children, and they had to choose who would receive it. 

The majority of mothers decided to give this bond to their daughters, while fathers chose to give it to their sons. 

To see if this bias held true in different cultures, the researchers also conducted the same experiment in India, which led to the same results as the US study.

The researchers carried out another experiment at a zoo where participants with a child of each gender were given one raffle ticket . 

They had to decide whether they would enter the raffle for a girl’s back-to-school backpack, or a boy’s version. 

Mothers chose the girl’s raffle 75 per cent of the time, and fathers picked the boy’s backpack 87 per cent of the tine. 

The new research, available online in the Journal of Consumer Psychology, was conducted by researchers based at the Society For Consumer Psychology. 

‘Although the idea that parents might play favorites is not new—we’ve all heard adages such as “like father, like son” or “daddy’s girl”—most parents strongly deny favoring one child over the other,’ says Lambrianos Nikiforidis, an assistant professor of marketing at the State University of New York, Oneonta. 

‘Even though parents say they do not have a favorite, they also admit they do not actively track investment in each child, which leaves room for bias.’

So, while more than 90 per cent of people in the study said they treat children of different genders equally, researchers discovered that most parents unwittingly favor the child of the same sex when it comes to spending money.

‘We found that the effect was very robust in four different experiments and across cultures,’ says co-author and researcher Dr Kristina Durante, a professor of marketing at Rutgers Business School in New Jersey. 

‘The bias toward investing in same-gendered children occurs because women identify more with and see themselves in their daughters, and the same goes for men and sons.’

In one of the experiments, the researchers recruited US participants who had a child of each gender, and each parent was told that they would be given a treasury bond of $25 for one of their children, and they had to choose who would receive it. 

The majority of mothers decided to give this bond to their daughters, while fathers chose to give it to their sons. 

To see if this bias held true in different cultures, the researchers also conducted the same experiment in India, which led to the same results as the US study.

Participants also favored children who shared their own gender when deciding who would receive more in the family will. 

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The researchers carried out another experiment at a zoo where participants with a child of each gender were given one raffle ticket .

They had to decide whether they would enter the raffle for a girl’s back-to-school backpack, or a boy’s version. 

Mothers chose the girl’s raffle 75 per cent of the time, and fathers picked the boy’s backpack 87 per cent of the tine. 

According to Dr Durante, the findings have implications for children growing up in different families. 

So if mothers make most of the decisions about a family’s spending, daughters may receive more resources such as healthcare, inheritance and investments than their brothers. But if fathers are in control of family finances, sons may be more likely to benefit 

So if mothers make most of the decisions about a family’s spending, daughters may receive more resources such as healthcare, inheritance and investments than their brothers.

But if fathers are in control of family finances, sons may be more likely to benefit.

This unconscious gender bias may also have ramifications beyond the family unit – in a socio-political and workplace context. 

‘If a woman is responsible for promotion decisions in the workplace, female employees may be more likely to benefit,’ says Dr Durante.

‘The reverse may be true if men are in charge of such decisions. 

‘If this gender bias influences decisions related to charitable giving, college savings, promotions and politics, then it can have profound implications and is something we can potentially correct going forward.’  

‘If this gender bias influences decisions related to charitable giving, college savings, promotions and politics, then it can have profound implications and is something we can potentially correct going forward,’ says Dr Kristina Durante, a co-author of the research