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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 |
Shaping Policies To Meet Client's Needs While family planning programs can do much to help women meet their needs, debate continues about how meeting women's needs can be made more central to population policy. Some have criticized population policies as aiming at national goals such as slower population growth, environmental protection, or economic development while neglecting the needs of women as individuals and as a group. Some critics argue that such policies focus on only one aspect of women—their ability to bear children (165). Ruth Dixon-Mueller has argued that population and development policies must change to reflect "a thoughtful engagement of the difficulties that women face around the world in the struggle to take control over their own fertility and their own lives" (74). How can population policies better reflect women's interests? Improving the quality of care and protecting women's health have long been concerns of family planning advocates. The United Nations has declared that the goal of family planning should be "the enrichment of human life, not its restriction," pointing out that women in developing countries need a broad range of economic, health, and social rights and services (47, 322). Many family planning programs are still struggling to meet more modest goals, however. As demand for contraception has risen rapidly in developing countries over the past two decades, programs often have not been able to serve all the people who want family planning. Recognition is growing that population policies--and development policies in general—must pay attention to their clients' needs and preferences if they are to succeed. J. Brian Atwood, Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development, describes the need in this way (14):
Attention to gender roles is fundamental to the success of programs we assist. We must support full participation of women at all levels of family planning and—indeed—all health and development programs. We must help women overcome the obstacles they face in obtaining services or using contraceptive methods. We must see that programs are designed to benefit women. And, we must help programs strengthen men's support and participation. To accomplish this at the program level, family planning program managers are increasing their efforts to learn from clients. At the same time, women's advocates are seeking more opportunities for women to participate in planning services (38, 220, 313). Thus program managers and women's groups have begun to work together. At the policy level, policy-makers, family planning organizations, women's groups, and other nongovernmental organizations have been building links between population policy-makers and women's advocates (323). This discussion and debate has grown as world attention has focused on the United Nations International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo in September 1994 (see side-bar, Debate Over Policy). In this discussion diverse policy-makers are recognizing that their various goals can be achieved by the same means—offering services that people want. Policies that serve clients:
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