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"Could it have something to do with the fact that men occasionally have trouble accepting a male child who is not biologically related to them as their own, and might be better able to accept a female child? Just a speculation, based on what I've observed of human nature."

Sharon, I have known several men (friend's partners) who were slightly less than thrilled with having a girl and admitted it, nice huh? They are the same men that would never adopt a child. Some men are not only concerned with carrying on their genetic material (will not consider adoption regardless of their desire to parent) but doing so with a boy. It is a need for them, which for me says much about their security and level of enlightenment. I suspect that many sensitive men who choose adoption do not care what the sex of their child is. While surely not a common consideration for adoptive parents, girls have historically been considered servile, more easily influenced and controlled, whereas boys are not. They are viewed as rowdier, more aggressive and more difficult, which I think explains why more boys remain in foster care. I believe strongly that our society has for a long time seen some non European girls as exotic, mysterious and often more pliable. Such a view of non European men is not common. They might be viewed by some as a threat. Spay: While the current trend may be to choose a girl when the number of boys and girls is equal, I suspect that it is part of a historic trend. Many countries with many adoptable children such as China and India have many many more girls, because of one child government policy, and in the case of India, men will not relinquish their male children. When people begin investigating adoption I believe they often believe, accurately or not, that there are more girls available to adopt and set their minds on that choice.

I have no idea whether raising boys is harder than raising girls. I am the elder of two; neither of my parents wished for another child and have been married 40 years. Both my sister and I kept our maiden names, and I will certainly be the only daughter to raise a child - a girl only, most likely. I, too, hate to stereotype based on gender but have in my experience found that even very very young children exhibit such different patterns and levels of activity, which is apparent often from birth.