question_answer

                                                                                                Richa's inlaws were curious to have a male child after the birth of a girl. They used to blame Richa for not being able to give birth to a male child. During her second pregnancy, they started forcing her to undergo a test for sex identification, but Richa refused to this.

(i) How would Richa convince her family about the criteria of sex - determination in humans?

(ii) What values are shown by Richa's inlaws?

Answer:

(i) Richa should try to convince them by explaining the phenomenon of sex, determination in human beings in which male possesses one X and one Y, chromosome while, a female has two XX, chromosomes. If an ovum gets fertilised with a sperm carrying X, chromosome, the zygote develops into a female (XX) while, if an ovum gets fertilised with sperm carrying Y, cromosome, the zygote develops into a male (XY). Hence, it shows that the genetic make up of sperm which fertilises the ovum determines the sex of a child.

(ii) Richa's inlaws are conservative, lack knowledge about the fact of sex , determination in humans.