CONTENTS
HIGHLIGHTSPopulation Reports is published by the Population Information Program, Center for Communication Programs, The Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, 111 Market Place, Suite 310, Baltimore, Maryland 21202-4012, USA
July, 1994 |
Family Planning—An Asset for Women Women want better lives for themselves, their children, their families, and their communities. They want to do their best in their current roles as mothers, wives, workers, and community members. Many women also want new opportunities in life—chances to learn, to make their own decisions, to have more say in the course of their own lives. Women want to have choices. Family planning is one important way that women can take control of their own lives and make more choices possible. Choices are essential to human dignity. Without choices and without opportunities, a person cannot hope for a better future. Without choices, a person can have little self-respect. A person imprisoned is punished by being denied choices; a person denied choices is punished even without being imprisoned. Although poverty and lack of education often limit choices and opportunities for both men and women in the developing world, in general women's choices are especially limited. Social norms, often embodied in a husband, parent, or mother-in-law, prevent many women from having much say in their own lives or much autonomy to choose their own paths. Even if women were allowed to make choices, social and economic options and opportunities are often beyond women's reach. As a result, compared with men, women have less health care, less education, fewer choices of jobs, poorer pay, and less legal protection (see side-bar, Meeting Women's Needs: What Should Be Done?). |