Human Rights and Population Growth—A Feminist Perspective

Abstract

The question of the relationship between human rights and population growth is examined from the perspective of the rights and status of women. A brief review of the literature indicates that no necessary connection between an improvement in the status of women and a reduction of fertility has yet been discovered. The most promising investigations are found in culturally and regionally specific studies. The involvement of women in birth control and population growth is classified, and the concerns of feminists identified. The partial contradiction between the goals of feminism and the control of population, and the relatively unresearched aspects of reproduction are made explicit. The paper concludes that the voice of women should be heard in the worldwide population debate and in the national action plans for contraception, not just as representatives of government, the academy, or the professions, but as women-the people most intimately affected by the present population policies.