Banjara families prefer to have both sons and daughters. The son is considered necessary because they are a patrilineal society, whilst at least one daughter is deemed desirable because she can look after the parents in their old age if the son is too pre-occupied in his marriage. Daughters also contribute greatly to the running of the family unit prior to their own marriage and are prized by their mothers for that reason, being trained in various domestic tasks that benefit both the unit and their future married life. Aside from strictly domestic tasks, they are an economic boon because they help with herding and grazing the family's cattle and with work in the crop fields.