Women & Population

Report predicts population of 9B by 2300

A U.N. report lowers long-term population estimates because of new thinking about fertility rates in the future.

UNFPA stresses importance of population control in Nigeria

UNFPA adviser Oluwafisan Bankole says the country's population growth has impeded its overall growth potential because so much of the population is too young to be productive. Bankole asked families and the government to take the situation seriously, and called on families to only have as many children as they can care for. AllAfrica Global Media/Daily Champion (Lagos) (11/16)

Outrage at guns for sterilisation policy

India's most populous state is pursuing an unusual population control policy -- awarding firearms to sterilized males. The plan has drawn criticism both because it promotes gun ownership and because of reports that wealthy landowners are having laborers sterilized on their behalf. The Guardian (London) (11/1)

UN World survey on the role of women in development

Migration across borders has more than doubled in the past 40 years, and with that comes greater risks as well as opportunities for improvement for women, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan says in a report to the General Assembly. On the up side, migrating women can often rid themselves of oppressive conditions in their home communities and enhance their lives by becoming more independent, Annan says.

With Women Powerless, AIDS Reigns

MANZINI, Swaziland-In Swaziland, the traditional dominance of men has contributed to the world's highest rate of HIV infection, a UNICEF official says.

For Younger Latinas, a Shift to Smaller Families

Latina women are choosing to have smaller families, in some cases resisting the social pressures that shaped the Hispanic tradition of big families.

Contraception, the Missing Link in the Millennium Development Goals

International organizations dealing with sexual health and reproduction voiced concern at a symposium on the United Nations Millennium Development Goals and Sexual and Reproductive Health in Latin America and the Caribbean over the lack of attention the issue of contraception has received from the UN, calling it a "hole in the millennium goals." Attendees blamed a widely held perception that reproductive issues were "dangerous" and likely be met with opposition from socially conservative governments, despite the benefits of proper family planning. Inter Press Service News Agency (12/7)

Health:Breaking the Vicious Circle of Sexism, Poverty And Aids

United Nations officials delivered a somber assessment of governments' response to the disproportionate impact of HIV/AIDS on women in the world's least developed countries, condemning in a report so-called "half measures" that could threaten the success of the UN's Millennium Development Goals in many developing countries, particularly in Africa and Asia. Gender equality and rights for women can have a positive impact on health care, education and poverty, says an Inter Press News report, if governments are willing to support women fighting for their rights. AllAfrica Global Media/IPS (2/25)

China Fears a Baby Bust

After years of mandating the one-child policy, current government efforts to loosen the restrictions to try to thwart a population shortage are finding many Chinese families, especially in urban areas, have grown used to the idea of having only one baby. In 2003, about half as many babies were born as deaths were reported in the city of Shanghai, which is a trend that worries officials. Los Angeles Times (free registration) (12/7)

Senator Clinton's Values Lesson

Thanks to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's frank talk, everyone should know that there are practical steps for cutting the nation's abortion rate.

From the Ashes of Genocide, a True Democracy Rises

Seven developing countries are among the world's top 17 countries when it comes to women holding political office, World Map of Women in Politics 2005 reports. The seven countries are Rwanda -- which ranks highest in the world with 48.8% women in the lower house of parliament and 34.6% in the upper house -- Cuba, Costa Rica, Mozambique, Argentina, South Africa and Guyana. Inter Press Service News Agency (3/4)

When Rapists Walk Free

Mukhtaran Bibi's plight exemplifies what will be the central moral challenge of this century.

China's population reaches 1.3 billion

China's 1.3 billionth citizen, a boy, has been born, and the government used the occasion to praise its one-child-per-family policy, which now has been in effect for about 30 years. That policy has kept the U.S. from giving money to the United Nations' Population Fund out of concern the money may be used to coerce Chinese women to have abortions. CTV.ca (Canada) (1/6)

Developing world births 'falling'

Women in developing countries gave birth to an average of 3.9 children in the 1990s, down from 5.9 children in the 1970s, according to a new United Nations report. China saw the biggest birth rate decline during the period, due to its one-child policy, but Algeria, Iran, Mexico, Thailand, Tunisia and Turkey also saw substantial drops. BBC (1/26)

World population to reach 9.1 billion in 2050, UN projects

The world's population will soar almost 50% to 9.1 billion by 2050, the United Nations Population Division estimates in a new forecast. The vast majority of the growth is expected to take place in developing countries, adding more pressure on those countries to provide proper health care, education and shelter. India will pass China as the world's most populous country in 2030, the UN forecasts.

TANZANIA: A century later, little has changed for females

Despite advances in education and the growing influence of Western culture in Tanzania, many of today's women in the African country continue to suffer from the same social inequalities endured by women of previous generations, including polygamy, forced early marriage, wife inheritance, wife exchange and even female-to-female marriages, according to a Reuters AlertNet report. Many local nongovernmental organizations, however, are increasingly focusing on women's rights and have recently collaborated on a number of issues, including a campaign to curb the practice of female genital mutilation. AlertNet.org/Reuters (2/14)

Deaths Outnumber Births as AIDS Ravages Southern Africa

The HIV/AIDS epidemic, which continues to devastate mostly the world's poorer nations, has increased the rate of mortality and slowed population growth, according to a new U.N. report released Thursday.

The Unheralded Revolution

Women make up 31% of Iraq's newly elected 275 parliamentarians, a huge but under-reported pro-democratic development, writes columnist Jim Hoagland in the Washington Post. U.S. President Bush should point to this advance for women in power in Iraq, and use it to promote positive social revolutions elsewhere, Hoagland argues. The Washington Post (free registration) (2/24)

Europeans oppose US anti-abortion push at UN meet

A push by the U.S. to have the ongoing United Nations conference on women's rights state that females do not have a fundamental right to abortion is facing opposition from European countries. Nicole Ameline, France's minister for parity and equality, said women in poor countries could face further suffering if the UN were to adopt the tougher anti-abortion language supported by the U.S. AlertNet.org/Reuters (3/2)

As Girls 'Vanish,' Chinese City Battles Tide of Abortions

The New York Times reports from Guiyang, China, where authorities are trying to crack down on the killing of baby girls and selective abortions of female fetuses, practices which have been common due to the country's one-child policy and traditional preference for males. In January, the city launched a pioneering ban on abortions after the 14th week of pregnancy. The New York Times (free registration) (2/17)

Nicholas D. Kristof: Sudan's policy of systematic rape

In an commentary piece running in The International Herald Tribune, Nicholas D. Kristof details the potential for brutal trauma that women in Sudan face every day -- from rape to genital mutilation. "This policy of rape flourishes only because it is ignored," he writes, praising the women who spoke to him about their plights and admonishing most of the international community for its largely silent stance on the issue. International Herald Tribune (6/5)

U.N. still too much a boys' club

While most of the high-profile positions at the United Nations are held by men, women at the world organization tend to work effectively behind the scenes, according to this Toronto Star column. Just one example, according to this commentary, is Deputy Secretary-General Louise Frechette, who manages the UN's 25,000-person secretariat but is "barely known" outside the world body and Canada. The Toronto Star (4/11)

Roe's Birth, and Death

Unless Roe v. Wade is overturned, politics will never get better.

Kuwait Grants Political Rights to Its Women

The vote came just two weeks after the Parliament had thwarted a measure allowing women to take part in city council elections.

G8 Should Focus on HIV, Women's Empowerment

While this week's G8 summit in Scotland is expected to focus on issues surrounding African development and the impact of HIV/AIDS, such discussions will be fruitless without a deeper acknowledgement of the vulnerabilities of women, Janet Fleischman writes in a guest column for AllAfrica.com. Fleischman writes "the effectiveness and sustainability of the global response" to poverty and HIV/AIDS depends largely on making this connection, a task many leaders often overlook in their assessment of the problem. AllAfrica Global Media (7/1)

Why Arab women are still in the slow lane of reform

Lebanon's Daily Star takes a look at the rights of women across the Arab world, analyzing the impact of the recently gained right to vote in Kuwait, the debate over women driving in Saudi Arabia and violence against women in Egypt. While one female rights campaigner told the Star, "The still water has been stirred," it will likely be some time before wider reform takes root in the region. The Daily Star (Lebanon) (6/6)

A Place Where Women Rule

The Washington Post reports from Umoja, a Kenyan village established 10 years ago by rejected women that has grown into a "successful and happy village" ruled by women. While Umoja is an exception, it is part of a growing feminism in Africa, the newspaper writes. The Washington Post (free registration) (7/9)

The Scandinavian model

Foreign affairs commentator Jonathan Power examines the progressive social structures of Sweden, where he says women are the backbone of a thriving economy and hold up an increasingly strived-for model of gender equality for the rest of Europe. Writing in the International Herald Tribune, Power says women "are racing ahead" in nearly every field of endeavor, with the exception of business leadership. International Herald Tribune (7/13)

Africa's population to double in four to five decades

Africa's population will double to over 2 billion by 2050, according to the latest United Nations estimates, the African Union noted. The population explosion -- which will have a huge impact on the continent's socioeconomic development -- is fueled by the fact that the average African woman bears 6.5 children. People's Daily (China)/Xinhau (7/12)

`World without women will be boring'

Empowering women and girls so both genders get equal opportunities is key to overcoming poverty, hunger and disease, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in a message for today's World Population Day. Giving women better access to, for instance, education and reproductive health goes a long toward lifting people out of poverty, Annan said. The Hindu (7/11)

Gulf region's newest pipeline: human trafficking

Hundreds of Filipina women who went to Kuwait to work as maids ended up facing slave-like conditions and subsequently took refuge at the Philippine Embassy, The Christian Science Monitor reports. Those women are part of a broader trend in which thousands of men, women, and children, mostly Asian, are lured to the Gulf with the promise of a better life but instead end up becoming, in the words of the U.S. State Department, "modern day slaves." The Christian Science Monitor (7/19)

U.N. Reports Lack of Data on Women in Poverty

According to a United Nations report, many poor countries do not collect basic facts about births, marriages and deaths by sex and age.

Exploiting the Gender Gap

Women can earn more than men — and have better lives.

Indian PM warns against 'coercion' to curb runaway population growth

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said this weekend that India should not be subject to "coercion of any kind to achieve population stabilization." Singh advocated education and other tools as more effective ways to lower birth rates while addressing the National Commission on Population on Saturday. Yahoo!/Agence France-Presse (7/24)

The Other Half

Though women and girls are far more vulnerable to H.I.V. infection than men, we have yet to summon the courage to protect them.

Masai sell daughters for cattle wealth

More young girls in this East African tribe are fleeing to escape the marriages their parents are planning for them, seeking shelter and refuge elsewhere. Droughts in the region are prompting some Masai families to marry off their daughters at a very young age in exchange for cattle. The Times (London) (4/13)

Wall Street’s Women Face a Fork in the Road

Many executives say that Wall Street must change fundamentally if it wants to hire and keep more women.

U.N. Predicts Urban Population Explosion

(June 30) -- By next year, more than half the world’s population, 3.3 billion people, will for the first time live in towns and cities, and the number is expected to swell to almost five billion by 2030, according to a United Nations Population Fund report released yesterday.