Variation in the sex ratio of children as an indicator of parental preference for sons in the Urals and the Volga region at the end of the 19th century

The study focuses on the population of the Perm, Orenburg, Ufa, Vyatka, Samara, and Kazan provinces at the end of the 19th century. The subject of the study is variation in the sex ratio at younger ages, which is considered by some historians, economists, and demographers as a possible indicator of parental preference for sons, associated with the perception of the lower "value" of girls and leading to excess mortality of female children in infancy and childhood. The mechanisms of deformation of the sex ratio include female infanticide, unequal distribution of food, care, and/or workload, and the abandonment of girls by poor couples, which led to increased morbidity and mortality. Alternative explanations for this variation include underreporting of girls, sex differences in mortality unrelated to son preference, the influence of maternal age on the probability of having a child of a particular sex, and the impact of random factors on relatively small data samples. The primary methods used were descriptive statistics (measures of central tendency and variation), correlation and regression analysis, and the construction of demographic indicators. The study's novelty lies in its quantitative assessment of differences in birth registration data in the cities and districts of the Urals and Volga regions, among the largest religious communities, and in its evaluation of the relationship between the sex ratio and female population characteristics (employment, nuptiality), while accounting for infant mortality, which significantly influenced the sex ratio regardless of gender norms. In the Urals and Volga regions, the picture is similar to the general situation in the western part of the Russian Empire—sex ratios at birth conform to the "biological" standard. At the same time, differences were found between urban and district populations, as well as between religious groups. At younger ages, the impact of high infant mortality is noticeable, affecting boys more severely, leading to the proportion of boys equaling that of girls in the first year of life. The results of the analysis of the relationship between the parameters of female nuptiality (SMAM and the level of final celibacy) and the sex ratio can be interpreted as an argument in favor of the existence of a connection between patriarchy and the child sex ratio (at least in the context of the question of incentives for underreporting girls).