Family Gender And Population In The Middle East PDF Download

This paper summarizes presentations made at an international symposium held in Cairo in February 1994 on Gender, Family, and Population Policy in the Middle East. The 4 chapters are devoted to the following topics: demographic and social trends in the Middle East; the role of the state, religion, and society; women and men in families, the ideal versus the real; and family planning and reproductive health. The conclusion is made that the diversity of development levels and policies reflect both cultural change and the value of cultural traditions. Individual behaviors must be understood in a family and socioeconomic social context. Affirmation of the importance of Middle Eastern women's role in society and development is made in the Second Amman Declaration on Population and Development in Arab countries, a draft document made in preparation of the 1994 UN Conference on Population and Development. Improvement in the quality of women's lives is recommended though gains in economic, social, educational, cultural, psychological, and health conditions. The Islamic value of equality between men and women could be used for reform of personal status laws and for changing policies that perpetuate inequalities and destabilize families. There is considerable support for improving the conditions for daughters and for retaining cultural traditions. Islamic traditions place value on women's health, and population policy should shift to the integration of family planning within a reproductive health framework. There is a distinction to be made between Islam as a code of ethics and its practice, which is affected by culture, place, and time. Analysis of Egyptian survey data gives evidence that women who are involved in important family decisions have the smallest desired and completed family size. Even women without autonomy desire a different life for their daughters. The region is grouped by 3 types of population policy: The first group includes Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, and Turkey, countries that have explicit goals to reduce birth rates. The second group is comprised of Bahrain, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Sudan, and Yemen, countries without fertility control policies but with support for family planning. The last group includes Iraq, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia, countries that encourage high fertility.