Family Planning Policies in Developing Countries: from Malthusianism to Feminism?

Family planning programmes instituted in the 1950s were intended to reduce fertility rates. Women were the target, sometimes in extreme ways. In response, women's movements, from community based to transnational ones, developed programmes for women's reproductive health and asserted women's right to control over their bodies. They progressed significantly at the United Nations Conference in Cairo in 1994 and prompted new policies in countries where the women's movement was already present or there was a favourable political climate, for instance in Brazil and South Africa. In other countries, like Mexico and India, reproductive health policies were introduced but with some reservations. The concept of reproductive rights was recognised as part of the programme of action of the Cairo Conference, which was used to support the concept of women's autonomy in certain countries, like in Peru where the reproductive health services instituted a committee that deals with cases of enforced sterilisation. Despite some successes, women's reproductive rights are still not recognised and enforced in many countries. The resurgence of claims for the recognition of cultural and religious rights as well as the privatisation of health services do not help.