Algerians obsessed with having a 'male' child

According to established science, a foetus’ gender is determined at conception by chromosome carried by the male’s sperm. However, this message has clearly not sunken in for many fathers of daughters in Algeria.

According to some men, it is their wives that is cause. In fact, many men become so disgruntled that they may seek divorce or marry a second wife. This is the height of injustice and patriarchy.

A woman in Ein Bassam (governorate of Bouira) recently reported that this happened to her, while speaking in a court. She recounted details of her life to the judge after her husband refused to pay for food to her six daughters.

“My husband divorced me more than a year ago because I refused to continue giving birth to children.” She went on to tell her husband that she was not a “rabbit” and he immediately divorced her.

However, the young man turned to him and said: “whoever guarantees me that the second wife will give birth to a male child?”. To this the Sheikh said: “This is the will of Allah.” So the young man answered: “So leave it to the will of Allah. Even my first wife can have a male child.”

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But God forgave my mother, who slaughtered a sheep for you and you ate its meat, which made you forget that Allah is over all things competent, and instead of seeking refuge with Allah from the accursed Satan, I seek refuge with Allah from you and from the evil and from the evil of the women!

Such divorces because women have a female, rather than a male, child is a new trend, though it is less likely to affect an educated couple.

Two examples demonstrate this problem. A young man divorced his wife to marry another woman in order to have children after 3 years of marriage. Sources said that the young man had been in love with his wife for 4 years, considering her his dream woman. After marriage, they lived a life of intimacy and love, until 3 years passed and she did not have children. The mother of the young man began to incite him to marry again so that he can enjoy the blessings of fatherhood, but his wife did not bear the situation and chose to withdraw because she felt offended for not being childless.

Another young man decided to break away from his wife after five years of happy marriage because of not having children. The sad story of the young man began when his father’s health deteriorated as he suffered from cancer and the doctors informed him that he would die soon. So, he whispered to his son that his only dream is to hear the word of “grandfather” from his grandson. Therefore, the young man decided to sacrifice his happiness in order to realize his father’s dream to see his “male” grandchildren, and agreed with his wife to separate and then to marry another woman in order to have children.