by tradition the eldest son stays with his parents. when he gets married, the wife moves in with them and they take over the household, including taking care of

by tradition the eldest son stays with his parents. when he gets married, the wife moves in with them and they take over the household, including taking care of the husbands parents. the parents in turn help the couple to raise their children, and pass on all their knowledge and experience. and this wasn't driven by lack of money. the parents often went out of their way to build out the house for their son. one friend i visited had a house with three floors and a beautiful courtyard. on the face of it, a beautiful multi-generation lifestyle, if it weren't focused on boys. because that is the reason why having a boy is favored. why one woman told me how her husband was in prison because he defended his wife against her father who attacked his own daughter for not having children. why another woman had a nervous breakdown because her first child was a girl, to the point that she rejected her own daughter and it took years for her to recover and accept the girl. these are just anecdotes, but their severity suggests that this expectation is not uncommon. the irony of the second story is that the husbands parents weren't bothered by the girl at all. they loved her. it was the womans own upbringing that caused her reaction.