The World's Women: Fighting a Battle, Losing the War

Abstract

When population pressure against resources rises, women's reproductive capacity—the key to future population growth—is devalued. Women are themselves often treated as threats in overpopulated societies, and their rights and freedoms shrink. This cultural response to rising population pressure is adaptive insofar as its effect is to damp growth. Nevertheless, the process is often inhumane. Women are victimized in myriad ways that legislated efforts to protect women's rights and health status seem powerless to quell. Some family planning programs are being redirected to give highest priority to women's health and status. These are laudable goals but, unfortunately, divert resources from the more basic task of lowering fertility to limit population growth. Assistance with birth control, paid work for women, and fostering the motivation to plan for small family size are the most effective ways to address fertility. Any strategy that shifts resources away from birth control and jobs programs of proven effectiveness is ultimately self-defeating because population growth itself poses the greatest threat to women's and children's well-being.