The Empowerment of Women and Population Issues

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  • 女性の役割と人口問題
  • 女性の役割と人口問題<シンポジウム>
  • ジョセイ ノ ヤクワリ ト ジンコウ モンダイ シンポジウム

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Abstract

Are we capable of containing the world population growth within the limit of 10 billion? This question itself was the title of the Symposium held at the time of the Annual Meeting of the Population Association of Japan on June 3, 1994. My answer is "yes" and "no", depending upon the future course of fertility decline to be taken place in the developing countries. It is well-known that the fertility rates in developing countries, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa are extremely high and according to the medium variant of the UN long-term projections, the world population would reach 11.5 billion by the year 2150 on the assumption that even the presently very high fertility in Africa would substantially be reduced to a below replacement level. In this connexion, the key to the stabilization of the world population is advancing gender equality and equity and the empowerment of women and ensuring women's ability to control their own fertility. The International Conference on Population and Development held in Cairo in September 1994 has offered us a promising picture that much expanded and intensified population programmes and efforts in the future with the full cooperation, collaboration and participation committed by women would facilitate massive fertility declines in the developing regions, including the presently high fertility zones of Sub-Saharan Africa. Indicative of the past achievement of international and national family planning activities, there should be more than 100 million married couples in peproductive ages in developing regions who consider seriously the practice of family planning, but who have not yet done so because of the paucity of knowledge and because of the unavailability of contraceptive supplies. It has been calculated roughly that if such "unmet needs" were to be met in future, the fertility of the less developed region would soon be not far from the replacement level. Thus, as the Cairo Conference has taught us, the most important thing to do is to provide women and men with equal rights and responsiblities in the entire course of life, particularly in health, education, production and reproduction.

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