Women’s Off-Farm Work Participation and Son Preference in Rural China

China is a rapidly growing country, where a considerable amount of rural female labor has shifted from agricultural to nonagricultural sectors. Meanwhile, a strong son preference has persisted in the vast rural areas of China. Does women’s off-farm work make a difference in their preference for sons? Using data from the China Labor-force Dynamics Survey, we employ a multilevel regression model to investigate the association between women’s off-farm work participation and their son preference. The results show that off-farm work participation significantly reduces women’s desired number of sons and the likelihood of their desire to have a second son. The results are robust to additional estimations, including propensity score matching and an instrumental variable approach. We also examine whether the effects of off-farm work on son preference vary by women’s employment status and find no significant difference between the effects of off-farm self-employment and wage employment. Moreover, the effects of off-farm work on weakening the son preference are more pronounced for older, less-educated, and poor women, implying the important role of off-farm employment in empowering women and enhancing their socioeconomic status. Our findings have potential implications for the future achievement of a balanced sex ratio at birth in China and other developing countries.