Population, Health, and Environment through a "gendered" lens; When women are better off, so are populations.

AuthorHuhter, Lori M.
PositionPOPULATION FORUM

The water lapped at the side of our tiny outrigger boats as we struggled to get our sea legs up onto the dock. We had just arrived at Gilutongan, one of more than 7,000 islands that make up the Philippines nation. Coming from land-locked Colorado, the turquoise blue water signaled vacation in my mind--but we weren't on vacation. I was one of 50 visitors to Gilutongan as part of the second annual Population, Health, and Environment conference held in Cebu City, a bustling hub in the central Visayas region. Among us were journalists, activists, researchers, and development practitioners, and our island excursion was meant as a window into the harsh reality that governs island life. We were also there to witness first-hand the components of an integrated development program that aims to reshape the islanders' harsh and remote reality.

Filipino life and culture are permeated by the sea, which is the source of sustenance, income, and transportation and is never far away. Yet the nation's once-prolific fisheries are in dramatic decline. Filipino fishing households typically live far below the Philippines' official poverty threshold; on average, a household has six members, each earning 20 pesos (US$0.40) a day. Related to this wrenching poverty, malnourishment is common among fishing families.

Although the fisheries crisis is driven by myriad forces, population growth is part of the problem. Unlike the rapid fertility declines (and thus smaller families) in other East Asian nations, such as Korea and Taiwan, Filipino families remain relatively large. Larger families require more fish, both for consumption and as a hopeful path out of poverty.

In 183 coastal and island barangays (villages), including Gilutongan, a new approach to poverty alleviation and conservation is being introduced. The Integrated Population and Coastal Resource Management (IPOPCORM) project brings together micro-credit, reproductive health, and conservation services to simultaneously address poverty, population pressures, lack of health services, and environmental decline. The small loans made available through the program have fostered alternative livelihood strategies, including among fishermens' wives, and have empowered women and families while reducing pressure on local fisheries. IPOPCORM also works with teens aged 15-19 to provide information on the benefits of postponing sex and childbearing. The island youth are encouraged to be "stewards" of both their own sexuality and the coastal environment on which their generation, and those of the future, depend. In addition to education on reproductive health, IPOPCORM works to improve access to birth control by engaging the typically female operators of sari-sari markets, the local convenience stores. Several shopkeepers proudly hang banners to signal the availability of reproductive health commodities, including condoms and birth control pills. Often also educated as "community-based distributors," some provide counseling on family planning.

As with so many development interventions, IPOPCORM is finding that women are the lynchpins of success. Resources and information yield opportunity; education yields empowerment. With a focus on women, the provision of resources, information, and education often leads to overall poverty reduction and, ultimately, fertility decline. Highlighted in policy dialogue over 15 years ago, the intertwined nature of these population, health, and environmental changes deserves renewed focus in today's development interventions.

Women in Development

In 1994, the "Cairo Consensus" emerged from the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) organized by the United Nations and attended by delegates of 179 nations. The consensus was embodied in a Program of Action which has been described as "remarkable" in its recognition of the centrality of gender equality and reproductive health within development issues. In considering population and development in the ensuing 20 years, ICPD representatives agreed that "the empowerment of women and improvement of their status are important ends in themselves and are essential for the achievement of sustainable development."

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Since the Cairo meetings, the international obligation to work toward gender equality has been reiterated through the Beijing Platform of Action (1995) as well as the United Nations Millennium Declaration (2000). In fact, promoting gender equality and empowering women represents the third of eight UN Millennium Development Goals, a global blueprint to meet the needs of the world's poorest citizens (nominally by 2015).

Gender equality exists when men and women share equally in power and influence within a...

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