A fertility gap—the difference between a woman’s ideal number of children and her actual number of children—is prevalent in both directions. We investigate the distribution of the fertility gap in India and factors that lead to women exceeding or underachieving their ideal number of children. We find that preference for males has a significant effect, contributing to a negative as well as a positive fertility gap. The probability that a woman exceeds her ideal number of children reduces by 7 percent in 2005–06 and 10 percent in 2015–16 if her first child is male. Further, we find that a husband’s preferences significantly shape the fertility gap. A woman is likely to exceed her ideal number of children by 3–4 percent if her husband prefers a higher number of sons than daughters. A husband’s ideal family size has an effect of similar magnitude as his son preference. Our results point to the important role of gender norms and household perspective in fertility analysis and policy settings and the challenges during fertility transitions.

生育率差距（妇女的理想子女数与实际子女数之差）在两个方向上都很普遍。我们调查了印度的生育差距的分布以及导致妇女超过或未达到其理想子女数量的因素。我们发现，对男性的偏爱具有显着的影响，导致了生育率差距的增加和减少。如果她的第一个孩子是男性，那么女性超过其理想子女数的可能性在2005-06年降低了7％，在2015-16年降低了10％。此外，我们发现丈夫的喜好显着影响了生育差距。如果她的丈夫更喜欢儿子而不是女儿，那么女人可能会超过理想的孩子数3-4％。丈夫理想的家庭规模所产生的影响与他的儿子偏爱程度相似。我们的结果指出，性别规范和家庭观点在生育力分析和政策制定中的重要作用以及生育力过渡期间的挑战。