The population revolution: from population policies to reproductive health and women's rights politics

Abstract

This article utilizes an oral history resource to document the transformation of population policies into women's focused practices and the perception that guided the major actors of this local revolution. The Population Control movement has been a powerful political and health movement that developed family planning to reduce population growth during the Cold War era. It relied upon philanthropic commitment before successfully becoming an official US policy from Nixon to Reagan. The anti-abortion controversies and political conservatism then diminished considerably the global acceptance of population policies. The revolution in population policies demanded a patient effort to conquer strategic positions and to develop new policies. Women program officers played a central role, along with prominent political figures. Most of the transformation occurred at the Cairo conference in 1994, where moderate population experts and feminists came to a compromise. This study finally focuses on the repercussions of the new reproductive health agenda in the population field.

Keywords:

• population control
• reproductive health
• oral history
• normative transformation
• family planning

Acknowledgements

I sincerely thank Claire Dubois for her thorough and patient reading. I also thank Paige Eager Wailey and Elizabeth Hartman for their help. I also thank Ioana Cîrstocea and Christiane Veauvy, for the opportunity they gave me.

Notes

1. Sophia Smith Collection, women's history archive. www.smith.edu/library/libs/ssc.

2. Phyllis Tilson Piotrow, interview by Rebecca Sharpless, transcript of audio recording, 16 September, 2002, Population and reproductive health oral history project, Sophia Smith Collection, p. 38. For a general presentation of the Ford Foundation work in population see Magat 1979, pp. 93–97. See also Caldwell and Caldwell 1986.

3. Nafis Sadik, interview by Rebecca Sharpless, transcript of audio recording, 24 July 2003, Population and reproductive health oral history project, Sophia Smith Collection, p. 102.

4. Rafael Salas was the first head of the UN population division, later transformed into the UNFPA.

5. There are lots of sources indicating meeting between JDR III and high-profile state representatives such as John Foster Dulles, Dwight Eisenhower and Lyndon Johnson, during which he exposed his concerns about population growth. See Harr and Johnson 1991, pictures between pages 240 and 241; pp. 336–337.

6. A renowned and well-respected Population Council demographer, Mayone Stycos, expressed this widely shared assessment of the world population in the 1960's (talking about Puerto Rico): ‘The proletarian masses are those most susceptible to communist propaganda, and if we do not do something to avoid their growth, we are going to find ourselves in a situation of that of Cuba’ in Stycos 1971, p. 59.

7. Volker Berghahn's contribution illustrates brilliantly the vast complexity of programmatic and directions within Ford activities regarding personal actions and initiative: ‘Shepard Stone and the Ford Foundation’ in Gemelli 1998, pp. 69–96.

8. Joan Dunlop, interview by Rebecca Sharpless, transcript of audio recording, 14–15 April 2004, Population and reproductive health oral history project, Sophia Smith Collection, Available from: www.smith.edu/libraries/libs/ssc/prh/transcripts/dunlop-trans.pdf, p. 55.

9. Available from: www.smith.edu/libraries/libs/ssc/prh/transcripts/dunlop-trans.pdf, pp. 3–8.

10. Regarding the years Joan Dunlop spent as an adviser to JDR III: Harr and Johnson, 1991, pp. 424–425, Harkavy 1995, pp. 66–67.

11. Adrienne Germain, interview by Rebecca Sharpless, transcript of audio recording, 19–20 June, 25 September 2003, Population and reproductive health oral history project, Sophia Smith Collection, p. 23. Available from: www.smith.edu/libraries/libs/ssc/prh/transcripts/germain-trans.pdf, pp. 9–12.

12. J. Timothy Johnson, interview by Rebecca Sharpless, transcript of audio recording, 8–9 June, 2004, Population and reproductive health Oral history project, Sophia Smith Collection, p. 51.

13. Allan Rosenfield, interview by Rebecca Sharpless, transcript of audio recording, 28–29 October 2003, 27 April 2004, Population and reproductive health oral history project, Sophia Smith Collection, p. 30. Rosenfield was an international consultant and medical doctor who worked for the Population Council and the Rockefeller Foundation.

14. Robert W. Gillespie, interview by Deborah McFarlane, transcript of audio recording, 25–26 June 2004, Population and reproductive health Oral history project, Sophia Smith Collection, pp. 23, 68. Robert Gillespie said: ‘And there's also a lot of hype that's going on at the time, even before the Mexico City conference – actually, Bucharest conference – a big debate between Development versus family planning. John D. Rockefeller gave a talk, and it sort of put a schism between development per se, or, for that matter, women's issues per se and family planning’. Robert Gillespie has worked with most of the major population NGOS in the field and is the president of Population Communication.

15. Phyllis Tilson Piotrow, interview by Rebecca Sharpless, transcript of audio recording, 16 September 2002, Population and reproductive health oral history project, Sophia Smith Collection, pp. 23, 93–94. Piotrow is an expert in population communication and was General Draper's attaché for years at the Population Crisis Committee.

16. Duff Gillespie, interview by Rebecca Sharpless, transcript of audio recording, 19–20 May, 2003, Population and reproductive health oral history project, Sophia Smith Collection, pp. 81–82.

17. See note 8.

18. Robert W. Gillespie, interview by Deborah McFarlane, transcript of audio recording, 25–26 June, 2004, Population and reproductive health oral history project, Sophia Smith Collection, pp. 69.

19. Thomas Franklin was unambiguous in his presidential review of 1981 in which he presented his commitment to further involve the foundation in domestic welfare issues. He seemed particularly concerned by poor single mothers and their children. He thus emphasized women's rights and health. Thomas also reaffirmed the foundation's necessary dedication to left-behind minorities. See Ford Foundation 1981, pp. v–ix.

20. Adrienne Germain, interview by Rebecca Sharpless, transcript of audio recording, 19–20 June, 25 September 2003, Population and reproductive health oral history project, Sophia Smith Collection, p. 71.

21. Harkavy 1995, pp.130–131. According to him, Lincoln Chen developed in India the first program targeting directly ‘child survival and women's reproductive health’.

22. Timothy Johnson gives a clear description of the influence of the Ford Foundation's activities, particularly in South Asia: ‘In a way, all of these people could also be considered as Ford staff. They were not; they were staff at their universities and so forth. But they were part of the Ford family in a way. They were being supported by the Ford Foundation through grants to these universities. And I worked with all of those groups in Pakistan at that time’. In J. Timothy Johnson, interview by Rebecca Sharpless, transcript of audio recording, 8–9 June 2004, Population and reproductive health oral history project, Sophia Smith Collection, p. 30.

23. Adrienne Germain, interview by Rebecca Sharpless. Transcripts, p. 53.

24. Sandra Kabir, interview by Deborah McFarlane, transcript of audio recording, 13–14 March 2004, Population and reproductive health oral history project, Sophia Smith Collection, pp. 30–32.

25. On structural adjustment and the development of NGOs and private hybrid social movements: Brown 2000, pp. 171–190. See also Alvarez et al. 1998.

26. Helms amendment, passed in 1973, forbade abortion-related activities to USAID.

27. Reimert Thorolf Ravenholt, interview by Rebecca Sharpless, transcript of audio recording, 18–20 July 2002, Population and reproductive health oral history project, Sophia Smith Collection, p. 123.

28. Mechai Viravaidya, interview by Deborah McFarlane, transcript of audio recording, 6 October 2003, Population and reproductive health oral history project, Sophia Smith Collection, p. 19. Mechai Viravaidya is an obstetrician/gynecologist and one of the founders of the Thai family planning national program.

29. On the notion of defensive position in the social field theory: Denord 2002. For a broader perspective on field theory, see Levi 2003.

30. Anne Murray is a prominent figure in the field of women's rights and health. She is the founder of the Global Fund for Women (GFW) and contributed to diffuse feminine philanthropy in several countries. For an overview of her work with the GFW and a self presentation, see Murray 2006.

31. Joan Dunlop, interview by Rebecca Sharpless. Transcripts, pp. 65–67.

32. Joan Dunlop, interview by Rebecca Sharpless. Transcripts, p. 50.

33. Adrienne Germain, interview by Rebecca Sharpless. Transcripts, pp. 1–5.

34. Adrienne Germain, interview by Rebecca Sharpless. Transcripts, p. 93.

35. Joan Dunlop, interview by Rebecca Sharpless. Transcripts, p. 118.

36. See the Jewish Women's Archive website: jwa.org/exhibits/wov/abzug/the [Accessed 11 December 2009].

37. Adrienne Germain, interview by Rebecca Sharpless. Transcripts, pp. 149–150.

38. Adrienne Germain, interview by Rebecca Sharpless. Transcripts, pp. 111–112.

39. International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics. www.figo.org.

40. Frances Kissling, interview by Rebecca Sharpless, transcript of audio recording, 13–14 September 2002, Population and reproductive health oral history project, Sophia Smith Collection, pp. 145–146.

41. Caulier 2009a. For a presentation of the MacArthur Foundation work in Brazil, see : Correa et al. 2003.

42. Steve Sinding was Agency Director for Population (1983–86) at USAID and later became head of the IPPF.

43. Sara Seims, interview by Rebecca Sharpless, transcript of audio recording, 17 September 2004, Population and reproductive health oral history project, Sophia Smith Collection, p. 38.

44. Joan Dunlop, interview by Rebecca Sharpless, transcript of audio recording, 14–15 April 2004, Population and reproductive health oral history project, Sophia Smith Collection, p. 92.

45. Le-May-Sheffield 2005 , pp. 130–131. For a French illustration: Chanavaz-Lacheray and Nizard 2005.

46. Joan Dunlop, interview by Rebecca Sharpless. Transcripts, pp. 94–95.

47. Available from: www.engenderhealth.org/about/mission.php [Accessed 4 December 2009].

48. Joan Dunlop, interview by Rebecca Sharpless. Transcripts, p. 130.

49. Nafis Sadik, interview by Rebecca Sharpless, transcript of audio recording, 24 July 2003, Population and reproductive health oral history project, Sophia Smith Collection, p. 69.

50. Duff Gillespie, interview by Rebecca Sharpless, transcript of audio recording, 19–20 May 2003, Population and reproductive health oral history project, Sophia Smith Collection, p. 83.

51. Duff Gillespie, interview by Rebecca Sharpless, transcript of audio recording, 19–20 May 2003, Population and reproductive health oral history project, Sophia Smith Collection, p. 60.

52. Sharon Camp, interview by Rebecca Sharpless, transcript of audio recording, 20–21 August 2003, Population and reproductive health oral history project, Sophia Smith Collection, p. 53.

53. See Hartman 2004, Guilbert 2009. In the UK, the ‘Population Control’ arguments have regained some political recognition; see Report of Hearings by the All Party Parliamentary Group on Population, Development and Reproductive Health (2007, p. 56): ‘It is clear that without addressing the issue of population growth and high fertility in the poorest regions of the world, these regions have little chance of achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Rapid population growth has a detrimental effect on the MDGs. It is also often a actor causing civil conflict and migration. Except for a few oil-rich states, no country has pulled itself out of poverty while maintaining high fertility’.