KEYWORDS Gender Preference. Family Size. Gender Disparity. Family Planning.

ABSTRACT Fertility preferences are indicators of general attitudes and possible future course of fertility. Also, the acceptance of family planning is closely dependent on it. The present study was conducted keeping this in mind, thereby to know about fertility preferences among Gujjar women residing in Delhi. The data for present study was collected by interviewing ever-married Gujjar women aged 15-49 years from a sample of 558 households. Among them, there is a gap between their ideal and actual fertility experience. With the increase in the number of children and maternal age, the desire to have another child drops rapidly. Among all the women, average number of children considered ideal is lower than the average actual number of children. However, they prefer more sons than daughters and consider that there should be at least one male child in the family, revealing preference for son. The degree of dependence for deciding the family size among Gujjars women is substantially high.