THE INTERNATIONAL

CONFERENCE ON
POPULATION AND
DEVELOPMENT
(1994)
HEIDI T. SALAMIDA
Reporter
What is ICPD?

International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in1994 in

Cairo, 179 countries agreed that population and development are inextricably
linked, and that empowering women and meeting people's needs for education and
health, including reproductive health, are necessary for both individual
advancement and balanced development.

The conference adopted a 20-year Programme of Action, which focused on

individuals' needs and rights, rather than on achieving demographic targets.
 Population and Development
• People are both the means and ultimate beneficiaries of
development.
• Population dynamics and reproductive health are central to
development, need be integral to poverty reduction strategy
• Population indicators are perhaps the most sensitive in
determining the extent to which the people have directly
benefited from programmes of social and economic
development.
 Gender Equality, Equity & Women’s
1. Empowerment
Empowerment and Status of Women
- The empowerment and autonomy of women and improvement of
their political, social, economic and health status is a highly
important end in itself.
- Education is one of the most important means of empowering
women with the knowledge, skills and self-confidence necessary to
participate fully in the development process.
 Objectives
• To achieve equality and equity based on harmonious partnership between men and
women and enable women to realize their full potential.
• To ensure the enhancement of women’s contributions to sustainable development
through their full involvement in policy and decision-making processes at all stages and
participation in all aspects of production, employment, income-generating activities ,
education, health, science and technology, sports, culture and population related activities
and other areas as active decision makers, participants and beneficiaries.
• To ensure that all women, as well as men, are provided with the education necessary for
them to meet their basic human needs and to exercise their human rights.
 Actions:
Countries should act to empower women and should take steps to eliminate
inequalities between men and women as soon as possible by:

• Eliminating gender discrimination

• Ensuring women’s equal participation representation & equitable
participation in political processes
• Fulfilling women’s potential through education, skill
development and employment
• Realizing rights related to reproductive & sexual health
• Enabling women to earn income beyond traditional
occupations
• Eliminating violence against women; through laws and
regulations
• Making it possible for women to combine productive &
reproductive roles
• Promulgating, implementing & enforcing national laws
and international conventions
 2. The Girl Child
Since in all societies discrimination in the basis
of sex often starts at earliest stages of life,
greater equality for the girl child is a necessary
step in ensuring that women realize their full
potential and become equal partners in
development.
 Objectives
• To eliminate all forms of discrimination against the girl child and the
root causes of son preference, which results in harmful and unethical
practices regarding female infanticide and prenatal sex selection
• To increase public awareness of the value of the girl child, and
concurrently to strengthen the girl child’s self image, self-esteem and
status
• To improve the welfare of the girl child, especially in regard to health,
nutrition and education.
 3. Male Responsibilities and Participation
• Changes in both men’s and women’s knowledge, attitudes and
behaviour are necessary conditions for achieving the
harmonious partnership of men and women. Men play a key
role in bringing out about gender equality, since, in most
societies, men exercise preponderant power in nearly every
sphere of life, ranging from decisions taken at all levels of
government.
Objective
To promote gender equality in all spheres of life,
including family and community life and to
encourage and enable men to take responsibility for
their sexual and reproductive behaviour and their
social family roles.
 Actions
• The equal participation of women and men in all areas of family and household
responsibilities, including family planning, child rearing and housework, should
be promoted and encouraged by governments.
• Special efforts should be made to emphasize men’s shared responsibility and
promote their active involvement in responsible parenthood, sexual and
reproductive behaviour, including family planning, prenatal, maternal and child
health; prevention of sexually transmitted disease, prevention of unwanted and
high risk pregnancies; shared control and contribution to family income,
children’s education, health and nutrition; recognition and promotion of the equal
value of value of children of both sexes.
• Governments should take steps to ensure that children
receive appropriate financial support from their parents
by, among other measures, enforcing child-support laws.
• National and community leaders should promote the full
involvement of men in family life and the full
integration of women in community life.
 Empowerment of Women
CASE STUDY: EDUCATION
As the basis for the full promotion and
improvement of the status of women and as the
basic tool that should be given to women in
order to fulfill their role as full members of
society.
 Millennium Development Project:
Importance
• Increases of Women’s
use of maternal Education
health and family planning services
and improves reproductive health
• Reduces poverty
• Influences the health, education and nutrition of their children
• Improves the economic prospects of the family
• Reduces violence against women
 Education not a “Silver Bullet”
In spite of women’s overall higher levels of participation and
performance at the secondary and tertiary levels of Caribbean
education systems, the majority of the women in the region continue
to be positioned in the lowest sectors of the capital market, earn lower
wages than men, suffer higher rates of unemployment, experience
greater levels of poverty, are under represented in decision making
positions at the macro levels of social and political institutions and
lack real personal autonomy.
 Caribbean Education: The Situation
of Males
• Males are under participating and under performing
• Generally are less certified than females
BUT
• Enjoy greater access to formal employment; to alternative
routes for generating capital; to higher incomes; to decision-
making positions and therefore to greater material and
symbolic power.
 GAPS and CHALLENGES
1. The weak capacity of national machineries
2. The need to promote women’s participation
3. No translation of gains in education into commensurate
improvement of women’s economic status
Continual wage gaps for women in spite of gains made in education
4. The high level of teenage pregnancies
5. Domestic Violence
6. Limited information available on critical areas
7. Limited ratification of ILO Conventions that promote
workplace gender equality and sexual harassment
8. Sexual harassment & trafficking of women & girls
9. Wide gap between knowledge and practice on the part of
men and boys
10. Irresponsible behavior of boys / men to partners, families &
households.
 Male Underperformance: Structural
Determinants
• Lower levels of certification, higher levels of employment (transition
from school to work)
• The wage gap which favours males at all levels of education
• High reward opportunities in the informal economy (often risky and
illegal)
• Alternatives routes for generating income in industries with high
returns which are perceived as requiring little formal education
 Way Forward: Addressing Male
Underachievement
• To date the discourse has centered on factors over which we perceive that
we have control and instead of being constructive has pathologized
women, schools and the boys themselves
• Too many female teachers
• Too many female headed households and mothers can’t raise boys
• The absentee father, no male role models
• Too much attention to the needs of women and the neglect of those of men
• The curriculum not relevant to the needs of boys
• Teaching methods not appealing to boys
• The need to return to single-sex schools and the list goes
on
• Little attention to the ways in which macro level
structural factors and race and social class assignment are
determinants of the phenomenon
 The Overall Goal
To work, not only towards achieving a greater level of gender
equity, equality and women’s empowerment throughout the
region, but also creating an environment in which men and
women can live together harmoniously in a spirit of mutual
respect, where each has the possibility of fulfilling their
optimum potential and the opportunity to exercise their human
rights as responsible citizens.