'My wife is giving birth to only female children, I'm thinking of getting another wife that will give me male children'

The above statement is not strange to some of us in #african countries, especially in #nigeria. How is sex inherited in human? who is responsible for the sex of the offspring? the man or the woman?

It is not alien to me that #africa houses some of the biggest superstitious beliefs in the world. Some of these beliefs are so strong that they are tagged 'taboo' in some quarters. Growing up in a typical African environment, I had loads of these taboos but that will be for another discuss. Today, I am here to explain as simple as possible how sex is inherited in human for the #education of the ignorants.

The human chromosome is  23. Each chromosome is made up of a pair of chromatids. The chromosome is responsible for the storage of traits which is passed on from one generation to another. Out of the 23 pairs of chromatids, a unique pair is responsible for the transmission of sex. This pair is known as the sex chromosome. Note that sex is inherited independently of other traits. 

The sex chromosome of man is known as XY while that of woman is known as XX. The presence of Y chromatid confers maleness to human. In the male and female reproductive structures, chromosomes occur as single chromatids (haploid). Ipso facto, in men; we have the X sperms and the Y sperms while there are only  X eggs in women. During fertilization, random mating usually takes place. Consequently, an X sperm can fertilize X egg while the Y sperm can also fertilize X egg such that:

X sperm + X egg = female offspring

Y sperm + X egg = male offspring.

The randomization of mating is controlled by natural processes. Now tell me, who is responsible for the sex of the offspring?

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Thanks!