Making Women Fit the Plan: Commentary on 'the Role of the Women' in South Africa's Population Development Programme

Davis, Roger; Quinlan, T.; Stavrou, A.

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Title:	Making Women Fit the Plan: Commentary on 'the Role of the Women' in South Africa's Population Development Programme
Authors:	Davis, Roger Quinlan, T. Stavrou, A.
Year:	1990
Periodical:	Agenda: Empowering Women for Gender Equity
Issue:	7
Pages:	75-85
Language:	English
Geographic term:	South Africa
Subjects:	population policy women Development and Technology Sex Roles Demographics
External link:	https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10130950.1990.9675099
Abstract:	In 1984, the government of South Africa introduced the Population Development Programme (PDP), which aims at reducing the rate of population growth in the country. The PDP is attempting to achieve this aim on the basis of the assumption that the fertility rate of women and hence, the birth rate, will decline if the quality of people's lives is improved. However, despite the fact that the PDP represents a concerted effort by the State to improve quality of life, it is severely compromised by contradictions within its own agenda. In particular, the way in which the PDP addresses women demonstrates these contradictions. One of the PDP's publicly stated features is 'The role of the woman'. This feature emphasizes the importance of women both as subjects and as primary agents of the programme. On the one hand, women are seen as the educators of communities on issues such as family planning, nutrition and primary health care. On the other hand, they are seen as subjects whose social and economic emancipation is vital if they are to be in a position to educate and to transmit the aims of the PDP. The impression is that 'The role of the woman' is to be of service to the PDP and its particular goals. The underlying concern of the PDP is how to fit women into its own agenda, rather than to develop an agenda according to the reality of many women's lives. This paper demonstrates how the PDP agenda compromises its efforts to promote social change and to control population growth. Bibliogr., notes, ref.

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