By Zubeida Mustafa,

Women figure prominently in the recommendations adopted by the International Conference on Population held at Mexico City, in August 1984. This amounts to a clear-cut recognition of the relationship between the status of women in a country and its population growth rate.

It is now widely known that the higher the female literacy rate, the lower the infant and maternal mortality rate and the better the employment opportunities for women, the greater is the likelihood of such a country having a low population growth rate.

This aspect of the matter was recognised by the Population Plan of Action adopted at Bucharest ten years ago. It has been reconfirmed by the Mexico Conference which has now laid down more precise guidelines.

Obviously, this has been felt to be necessary because in many countries neither has the population growth rate gone down in the last decade nor has the situation for women shown any marked improvement. Continue reading INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON POPULATION AT MEXICO: A higher status for women means a lower birth rate By Zubeida Mustafa, →