Sex of the Baby: Is it on Mother or the Father?
Sex of the Baby: Is it on Mother or the Father?
Sex of the Baby: Is it on Mother or the Father? In our society, the women are often blamed for giving birth to daughters. Check this explanation to understand why this is not correct. Human beings have 23 pairs of chromosomes, out of these, 22 pairs are autosomes, and the last pair varies in males and females. Males are heterogametic, i.e. they produce two types of male gametes or sperms, where 50% of the sperms carry the ‘X’ chromosome, while the rest 50% carry the ‘Y’ chromosome. On the other hand, females are homogametic, i.e. they produce only one type of gamete, the egg, each of which carries the ‘X’ chromosome only. Once the male and female gametes have fused to form the zygote, it would carry either XX chromosome or XY chromosome, depending on whether sperm carrying X or Y fertilized the egg. Hence, if the sperm carrying ‘X’ fertilizes the egg (zygote XX), then it would develop into a female baby and if the sperm carrying ‘Y’ fertilizes the egg (zygote XY), a male baby will be developed. Both of these cases are attributed to the sperm that carries the chromosome fertilizing the egg. Hence, we say that the sex of the child is determined by the father and not the mother. So, it is incorrect to blame women for the gender of the child.
