Malnourished mothers more likely to have girls

Malnourished mothers are more likely to give birth to girls than boys, according to an academic study carried out in Ethiopia.

Evolutionary anthropologist Dr Ruth Mace told IRIN on Wednesday that the “sex bias” is due to males requiring more “reproductive effort” than females.

“Women with the best body condition are more likely to have a male birth than the women with the worst body condition who are likely to have a female birth,” she said.

She said the study had implications for humanitarian aid organisations in ensuring that food aid was targeted to pregnant mothers.

“Malnutrition during pregnancy has costs later on,” added Mace, who examined 300 married women in southeastern Ethiopia, many of whom were suffering from a lack of food.

The study, which was carried out in Arsi, revealed that healthy women in the research group had 1.6 male children to every female child born.

Mace, from University College London in the UK, said Ethiopia was chosen in part because of the chronic food shortages in the country.

But she stated that in developed countries the phenomenon was more difficult to observe because of obesity and less stressful workloads.