Population and family planning in developing countries: the employer's role

The overall population problem of the world is discussed briefly. The author asserts that rapid population growth has serious social and political implications and imposes serious restraints on economic progress. It is also linked to problems of urbanization. Family planning is a way out. The state alone is not enough to make family planning successful, it must be supported by the different segments of society. Employers have a major social responsibility in this respect. After this general introduction, and the assertion of the basic role of the employer in family planning programs, the author deals with the specific situation in India in terms of 1) its population problem, 2) progress and impact of the Indian family planning program, and 3) the role of employers in the promotion of family planning in India; a detailed section is devoted to the family planning centers of the Tata group of companies (Tata textile units, chemicals, iron and steel, engineering and locomotive, etc.). The author enumerates the measures to promote effective participation by employers, which include 1) an organized framework, 2) assistance to employers, and 3) removal of disincentives. The author concludes by saying that the efforts of employers to limit population growth need to be supplemented by international cooperation and action.     

An economic evaluation of recent changes in Singapore's family planning program

Recently the Singapore government has stopped promoting family planning as a general policy applicable to all sections of society. A more selective policy has emerged, in which some groups are still urged to adopt family planning, while others are encouraged to have larger families. Using project evaluation techniques, part of the rationale behind this change is explored in this paper. The question of whether a general family planning program is no longer viable in view of recent developments in the Singapore economy is considered. The results support the movement away from a general policy on the assumption that the economy will continue to grow at the average rate observed since the early 1970s. However, a general policy would still be viable if the negative real growth of 1985/6 were to continue.     

Physicians confront abortion

France's liberalized 1975 abortion law created a crisis of conscience among physicians, who had the same heterogeneous range of attitudes toward abortion as the population at large. The new law modified the traditional function of physicians and gave rise to a new type of physician-patient relations. Between 1920-73, most French physicians shared the dominant pronatalist views and were content with antiabortion laws that penalized medical personnel more severely than the general population. While family planning became increasingly acceptable to the society and to some physicians, most medical personnel continued to have very disapproving attitudes toward it. The failure of physicians to take a more active role in assuring access to family planning became a factor in militant demands for legalization of abortion. The Council of the Order of Physicians, however, wished to limit its concessions to extension of therapeutic abortion to certain medical indications. Surveys in the early 1970s indicated that physicians' attitudes toward abortion were strongly influenced by age and medical specialty, with younger physicians and general practitioners most likely to favor liberalized access to abortion and older physicians and specialists most opposed. Among specialists, psychiatrists were most in favor of liberalized access. 80% of psychiatrists but only 48% of gynecologists favored abortion in case of risks to the mental health of the woman. Female physicians regardless of age and specialization were always more in favor of liberalization than their male counterparts. The new law eventually adopted gave physicians the right to refuse to participate in abortions but also prevented them from completely denying a patient an abortion. Nevertheless, the patient was required to have a personal interview with a physician in which he was instructed to warn her of the dangers of abortion to her future procreation and otherwise to dissuade her. The physician also had the duty of providing information and counselling on contraception. The Council of the Order of Physicians did not oppose the action in 1980 to make the new law permanent, as long as the conscience clause remained in force. The reactions of individual medical practitioners to the new abortion law were complex and variable. 2 factors determining the attitudes of physicians were their feelings on whether respect for unborn life should be absolute or whether the mother's situation of distress should be considered, and whether an abortion is a medical act or merely a procedure using a medical technique. Despite unease among many physicians at the prospect of performing abortions and distaste for the procedure, the majority of physicians are not in favor of demedicalizing abortion through, for example, a greater use of RU-486.     

The impact of an integrated family planning program in Russia

In 1995, the U.S. Agency for International Development implemented an integrated program of family planning education and services in six Russian cities to increase physicians' and women's contraceptive knowledge and change current contraceptive use. Large population-based surveys of women ages 15-44 were carried out at the beginning of project implementation (in 1996) and 3 years later in two project sites and a comparison site. Results from these surveys indicate that project activities affected women's knowledge of family planning methods, and caused women to have more favorable attitudes toward modern contraception. In addition, abortion rates decreased in project sites while remaining virtually unchanged in the comparison site. Because of uneven implementation of project interventions in the demonstration sites, however, the intervention's actual impact on abortion rates remains unclear.     

Modernization and the demographic transition: cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses of a revised model

Problems associated with past research on the fertility-development issue are identified in this article, and a model of the macro-level determinants of fertility -- a model informed by the revised theory of fertility transition -- is specified. This model is estimated both cross-sectionally and longitudinally. In addition, a model is specified that assesses the importance of a family planning program effort on fertility change in less developed countries. The effects on fertility change of other variables is controlled. Using crude birth rates for 117 countries, the model is operationalized and the revised model is applied to 1974 rates. A longitudinal model of 1955-1959 to 1974 change in rates is then tested. The final model for 81 less developed countries from the original set of 117 countries includes a measure of family planning effort. Results support the view that high levels of modernization increase motivation to control fertility, but they also show that excessive reliance on developmental change in less developed countries to bring about fetility declines would prolong unnecessarily the current period of rapid population growth. The dominant role of modernization in the models that lack data on family planning programs only facilitates understanding of the past. Modernization is not the only road to future lower fertility. Modernization, abortion, and family planning programs are explicit policy relevant variables. It was found that legalized abortion has a large and independent impact on lowering birth rates and that family planning programs also reduce unwanted births in less developed countries. These programs were the most important factor related to change in 1955-1959 to 1974 crude birth rate.     

“Dude,I’m Seventeen … It’s Okay Not to Have Sex by This Age”: Feelings,Reasons, Pressures,and Intentions Reported by Adolescents Who Have Not Had Sexual Intercourse

This study investigated feelings, reasons, pressures, and previous sexual experiences reported by students who have not had sexual intercourse and how these factors are associated with self-rated likelihood of having sex during the next year. Using data from the Fifth National Survey of Australian Secondary Students and Sexual Health (n = 783), this study found, in general, students had positive feelings about not having sex. Reasons for not having sex such as being proud to say no and not being ready were rated higher in importance than fear of potential outcomes or religious/cultural beliefs. Students reported limited pressure from parents and friends and, despite not having sexual intercourse, more than half of the sample had experienced some form of sexual activity. Stronger likelihoods of having sex during the next year were reported by students who had previously engaged in other sexual practices, reported more pressure from friends to have sex, and had negative feelings about not having sex. Sexuality educators can use these findings to guide approaches to sex education, emphasizing feelings, intentions, and reasoning over fear tactics. Discussion of a range of sexual practices will address more closely the experiences of young students as they begin their sexual lives.     

Communes of elderly people: Between independence and colonization

While it is generally assumed that elderly people want to live alone, at least as long as they are physically able, this is not always the case. Not only has the rapid growth of communes of elderly people in the Netherlands attracted international attention, it has also become a social policy issue. The government and institutional care providers tend to see them as informal homes for the aged, whereas the elderly who are involved in this see the communes as positive alternatives to traditional ideas on aging. In a theoretical interpretation it is shown that both the communes and the different reactions to them represent in a nutshell important developments concerning aging and the position of the aged in Western society, as well as major trends in the modernization process.     

Son preference and reproductive behaviour in rural Punjab

This study examines the impact of son preference on desired family size and contraceptive usage among a rural population in Punjab, India. Data are obtained from a sample survey conducted for the Center for Research in Rural and Industrial Development in 1989-90 in 7 rural districts of Punjab. The sample includes 450 currently married women aged 15-44 years. Analysis pertains to mean desired family size, the percentage not desiring additional children, the percentage desiring additional sons and daughters, and current use of contraception by sex, birth order, and number of living children. The estimation of the extent to which contraception would increase and desired family size would decline is based on methods developed by Arnold (1985) that assume no sex preference at any parity. Findings indicate a strong son preference. At every parity, women with sons only desired fewer children and were more likely to use contraception. Among women who desired more children, there was no indication that women with sons only desired a balanced sex composition. None desired a second daughter, and many desired a second son. As the number of living sons increased, so did contraceptive use. Contraception was 20% among couples with no son, 50% among those with one living son, and 81% among those with two living sons. Sterilization acceptors had an average of 2.07 living sons. At parity 2, two times as many couples had boys only compared to girls only. At parity 3, there were 7 times more families with boys only than families with girls only. If sex preferences were completely eliminated in the Punjab, there would be a 9% decline in desired family size from 3.05 children to 2.77 children. Contraceptive use would increase by 14 percentage points from 58% to 72%. The cultural practices of the Jats ethnic group place girls in the position of being an economic liability.     

Stages of Sexual Behavior Change to Reduce the Risk of HIV/AIDS

Sexual behavior change to reduce the risk of HIV infection is a dynamic multi-staged process. We present an empirical model for change, where we describe a stage of initiation of safer sexual practices, followed by a consolidation stage, and a long-term maintenance stage. The process of change can be interrupted by occasional or repeated lapses. We apply this multi-stage model to sexual behavior in a cohort of gay men from the Chicago area. The prevalence of various stages are reported between 1986 and 1991. Men infected with HIV tended to initiate change to safer sex later than those who were not, but maintained change or relapsed to unsafe practices in the same proportion. Implications regarding factors associated with relapse to unsafe sex, and interventions to prevent relapse, are discussed     

Toward a reconceptualization of "choice": challenges by women at the margins

It has been suggested that recent first world and third world feminist movements have gained impetus from a shared emphasis on "body politics" (abortion, rape, and domestic violence). It has been made clear by other writers, however, that first and third world women (including women of color in the first world) have very different conceptions of which policies and practices should be pursued to change their reproduction experiences (because the overriding experiences of their entire lives are so very different). Likewise, the concept of "the right to choose" has been challenged on the grounds that it ignores the external conditions (such as economics) which, in fact, dictate "choice." Eugenics also influences which "choices" are promoted among populations considered "undesirable." The dilemmas associated with reproductive choices are further highlighted by debate about the use of amniocentesis in India for sex determination and female feticide. At the center of this debate is whether calling for a ban on this practice would support or violate a woman's choice. The rhetoric of choice arose in the first place because women who wanted to end a pregnancy had "no choice" but to seek illegal abortions. However, working class women and Black women in the US object to the narrowness in the abortion rights agenda dictated by the use of this term. To assert women's "choice" absolves all others of the responsibility for a pregnancy. The "choice" concept is also vulnerable to political manipulation. "Choice" also evades ethical problems such as sex selection. Disabled feminists have also pointed out that it is as important to create conditions which include "the choice to have a disabled child" as it is to choose not to be a mother. Can feminists oppose the selective abortion of female fetuses while leaving the choice to abort a defective or unwanted fetus of either sex up to the mother? Objection to sex determination can be categorized as consequentialist (based on various predicted social and psychological consequences, such as more men would lead to more violence in the world) or nonconsequentialist (based on the inherent immorality of selective abortion). The benefits of sex selection would possibly include a reduction in sex-linked diseases and a reduction in the overall birth rate. Most US feminists support the moral, but not the legal, condemnation of sex selection. In India, where sex selection is openly practiced, feminists have tried to achieve legal prohibition of the use of tests for this purpose. This difference from the US position may be due to the difference in the abortion context in the 2 countries. Whether feminists support legal and/or moral prohibition of sex selection, however, almost all call for the longterm structural changes which must be made in the context of imperialism, racism, and poverty which would allow true "choices" to prevail.     

Trusting in God and His Earthly Masks: Exploring the Lutheran Roots of Scandinavian High-Trust Culture

In recent years, the high level of trust among Scandinavians in general and Danes in particular has attracted considerable international interest. The article unearths the rooting of Danish trust culture in Lutheran soil arguing for the influence of Lutheran theology and social teaching on Danish society from the Reformation onwards as a key to understanding its historical background. It identifies central social imaginaries of trust in Luther's work and trace their impact on eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Danish Lutheran confessional culture by analyzing texts written by the influential theologians Erik Pontoppidan (1698–1764) and Niels Frederik Severin Grundtvig (1783–1872).     

Exposure to harsh parenting and pornography as explanations for males' sexual coercion and females' sexual victimization

Sexual violence against women is a major concern to researchers and policy makers, as well as to the general public. This study uses a sample of more than 2,000 college students to investigate the extent to which exposure to harsh parenting practices and sexually explicit materials contributes to perpetration and victimization. Findings indicate that frequent corporal punishment in the family of origin combined with consumption of pornographic materials increased the probability that males reported engaging in coercive sexual practices. For females, both frequent corporal punishment and exposure to paternal hostility combined with consumption of pornographic materials were associated with higher levels of reported sexual victimization. These results provide increased understanding of the impact of pornography use among a nonclinical sample, as well as the consequences of experiencing harsh corporal punishment in one's family of origin, on the sexual victimization of females.     

Sexual Minority Stress and Same‐Sex Relationship Well‐being: A Meta‐analysis of Research Prior to the U.S. Nationwide Legalization of Same‐Sex Marriage

Meta‐analytic methods were used to analyze 179 effect sizes retrieved from 32 research reports on the implications that sexual minority stress may have for same‐sex relationship well‐being. Sexual minority stress (aggregated across different types of stress) is moderately and negatively associated with same‐sex relationship well‐being (aggregated across different dimensions of relationship well‐being). Internalized homophobia is significantly and negatively associated with same‐sex relationship well‐being, whereas heterosexist discrimination and sexual orientation visibility management are not. Moreover, the effect size for internalized homophobia is significantly larger than those for heterosexist discrimination and sexual orientation visibility management. Sexual minority stress is significantly and negatively associated with same‐sex relationship quality but not associated with closeness or stability. Sexual minority stress is significantly and negatively associated with relationship well‐being among same‐sex female couples but not among same‐sex male couples. The current status of research approaches in this field is also summarized and discussed.     

Sexual functioning and practices in a multi-ethnic study of midlife women: baseline results from SWAN

This study examined the sexual practices and function of midlife women by ethnicity (African American, Caucasian, Chinese, Hispanic, Japanese) and menopausal status. Sexual behavior was compared in 3,262 women in the baseline cohort of SWAN. Participants were 42 to 52 years old, premenopausal or early perimenopausal, and not hysterectomized or using hormones. Analysis used multivariate proportional odds regression. In our sample, 79% had engaged in sex with a partner in the last 6 months, and a third considered sex to be very important. Common reasons for no sex (n = 676) were lack of partner (67%), lack of interest (33%), and fatigue (16%). Compared with Caucasians, Japanese and Chinese women were less likely, and African Americans more likely, to report sex as very important (p < 0.005). Significant ethnic differences were found for frequency of all practices. Perimenopause status was associated only with higher frequencies of masturbation and pain during intercourse.     

Reshaping tradition? Women negotiating the boundaries of tradition and modernity in Hong Kong and British families

In debates on social change and personal life, modernity has generally been conceptualized in opposition to tradition, though some have pointed to the persistence of traditional values and practices within modern family relations. In this paper we seek to extend these debates beyond their largely Eurocentric context. Drawing on a comparative qualitative study of women and social change in Britain and Hong Kong, we argue for an understanding of the traditional and the modern that takes account of the ways in which tradition is reshaped in the context of modernity. The accounts of young adult women and their mothers in Hong Kong and Britain reveal varied interpretations of family obligations and practices in relation to normative ideals of family life in each context. We consider how configurations of family life deemed ‘modern’ are inflected by the differing traditions and histories of Hong Kong and British society and argue that these differences are not only cultural, but also attributable to the material conditions under which family relationships are forged and negotiated.     

Communes as seeking better family? A misleading explanation

Using data from a longitudinal study of ideology in urban communal living groups, this paper reexamines the thesis that the commune is an alternative family form sought by individuals striving for a better kind of family life. While family-oriented themes are often mentioned by communitarians, only a minority of communes in the sample were found to be specifically family focused in values and collective goals. Individuals in urban communes differ from their non-communitarian peers less in their orientation toward the family than in the comprehensiveness of their estrangement from all institutions. Rather than seeking alternative family forms, they were found to have been seeking social support for a broad range of non-conventional beliefs and role choices. Communal groups, which flourish at times of high flux and lack of consensus in social values, represent a quest for well-integrated, circumscribed consensus in response to the unravelling of broader social unity.The research reported here was supported by grants from the National Institute of Mental Health (MH 25525-01MP), the National Science Foundation (SOC7711262), and Sigma XI, the Scientific Research Association of North America. Thanks to William J. Goode, Ben Zablocki, and Cathy Greenblat for helpful comments on earlier drafts of this paper.     

Locating Security in the Womb

The discourse surrounding US family planning policies has evolved into a highly moralistic one that mirrors US domestic debates surrounding abortion rights. However, the original intent of ‘population control’ was to protect US access to raw resources and maintain US global supremacy. US family policies did not first identify woman as the object to be controlled, but policies have changed such that women's bodies have become a symbolic representation of – and site of resistance to – the power relationships between the US and developing states. The change in the rhetoric – from population control to family planning, women's empowerment, environmental sustainability and human rights – does not mean the ‘rules’ enforced by the hegemon have changed so much as it indicates a process of identity formation occurring through the implementation of these rules.     

Toward an assessment of the social role of rural midwives and its implication for the family planning program: an Iranian case study

An axiom of family planning programming is the importance of culturally-appropriate communicators and motivators. Traditional midwives seem ideal for this task but few studies have been done to verify this assumption by analyzing the midwife's social role as perceived by the community. 325 married women and 81 unmarried girls from a "model village" near Shiraz were interviewed by female undergraduates. 82.5% of the women are of childbearing age; 66% married before 14 years; 33% use contraception, mostly the pill, but most want large families because they expect high child mortality rates. Most of the older women are able to assist in childbirth but none, except the village's one recognized midwife, who is considered to have divine backing, will do so except in an emergency. The midwife's activities cause her to be held in low esteem by the community because 1) she has contact with a woman's sexual parts and this fact is public; 2) she has contact with vaginal excretia which are, in Islam, polluting; and 3) she is paid for her services, which labels her as a woman "without shame". The midwife is, however, widely used since women and their husbands fear the trip to the hospital and treatment by a male doctor much more than a midwife-supervised birth. The midwife in the study village had been there only 2 years and feels that she is not fully trusted. She is not consulted on birth control at all, because women expect the pill to be dispensed by doctors and consider other methods as a matter strictly between husband and wife. The midwife's role seems to complement that of the government health authorities rather than compete. The midwife's low status and circumscribed sphere of activity, the weak respect in which her advice is held and the pattern of having only 1 recognized midwife in a village at a time make the midwife a poor agent for family planning services. Her effectiveness as an agent of social change could be improved by training her in hygienic practices of childbirth and by redefining her role-relationship with the community. Studies should be done to identify the areas where traditional birth attendants are the best family planning communicators and those where that role is best left to others.     

Beyond toleration: privacy, citizenship and sexual minorities in England and Wales

This paper examines two significant moments in sexual minority citizenship in England and Wales in relation to one of the Marshallian sets of rights, namely, civil or legal rights, focusing specifically on the Sex Offences legislation and policing practices. The first moment that will be examined here is the process whereby homosexual acts were decriminalized in the 1950s and 1960s; here special attention will be paid to the recommendations made by the Wolfenden Committee. The second moment is one we are currently experiencing, which is associated with the inclusive policing of sexual minority communities (especially lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities) under the provisions of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 and in the review of Sex Offences, especially in the consultation paper (Home Office 2000) and White Paper (Home Office 2002) associated with this review. Privacy and toleration dominate the first moment, at the same time it shall be demonstrated that privacy is also central to the British Sexual Citizenship literatures that have emerged in sociology in the post-Wolfenden context. However, as the title suggests, the second moment under examination points to the emergence of a rather more extensive sexual minority citizenship beyond the boundaries of 'homosexual privacy' (which British Sexual Citizenship Studies is not currently engaging with) and perhaps even beyond the boundaries of toleration through ever more 'inclusive' policing strategies and through the review of sex offences in which many discriminatory laws are being 'de-homosexualized'.