This groundbreaking book explores the issues of son preference and female-selective abortion in a rural peasant community in India that is experiencing urbanization, rapid economic transformation, and social change as a result of exposure to the wider forces of globalization. Using a case study approach, the book includes the compelling personal stories and experiences of men and women in the village of Shahargoan. Through these stories, the author examines patriarchy, government policies, and the intricate and dynamic relationships between cultural preferences for family size and sex composition, and the use of new reproductive technologies and abortion in realizing these preferences.