Sex Determination

We spoke about the 23 chromosomes from the male fusing with the 23 chromosomes from the female. This forms 46 chromosomes making it 23 pairs of chromosomes. The 23rd pair of chromosomes is what determines the sex of the baby (whether the baby becomes a male or a female)

Both the male and female have the same 22 pairs of chromosomes but the 23rd pair is different. For a female baby, the 23rd pair chromosome is XX and for a male baby, the 23rd pair chromosome is XY. The XX is from the mother and the father and XY is also from the mother and the father. With the female, the (xx) the 1st X is from the mother and the other is from the father. With the male the (xy) the x is from the mother and the Y is from the father.

NB: there is 50% chance of giving birth to a female and 50% chance of giving birth to a male.