Did the Sex Ratio at Birth Reflect Social and Economic Inequalities? The Pilot Study from the Poznań Province, 1875–1913

Abstract

The goal of this study was to examine whether and to what extent sex ratio values at birth may have reflected social and economic inequalities in the Province of Poznań (German: Provinz Posen) in the last decades of the 1800s and early 1900s. It was assumed that maternal economic, social and emotional well-being differed according to the size of the place of residence (Poznań / town / village) and AbstraktCelem pracy było sprawdzenie, czy i w jakim stopniu wskaźnik proporcji płci przy urodzeniu mógł odzwierciedlać nierówności społeczne i ekonomiczne w prowincji poznańskiej w ostatnich dekadach XIX i na początku XX wieku. W pracy założono, że ekonomiczny, społeczny i emocjonalny dobrostan matki różnił się ze względu na wielkość ośrodka zamieszkania (Poznań / miasteczko / wieś) i stan

Ambient temperature-related sex ratio at birth in historical urban populations: the example of the city of Poznań, 1848–1900

“…The mothers' socioeconomic factors, such as maternal marital status and type of job could also have been confounding factors. The exposure of unmarried pregnant women to stress resulting from financial problems, poor living conditions, unemployment, lack of psychosocial support social instability, and physical workload may have resulted in the elimination of weaker male fetuses more often than female ones 71 , 72 .…”