Poor, powerless and pregnant. Empowering women will benefit all
Salus 15(3): 14-15 23
1992
PMID: 12179901 Document Number: 354511
In South Africa, the better educated women have a responsibility to help out less fortunate women. The possibilities for action could include the following: literacy classes for adult women with the help of teachers, librarians, social workers, development program workers, and among church groups and adult literacy groups; and promotion campaigns to encourage mothers to keep their children in school as long as possible. Women and teenagers could be educated about the complications of teenage births and parental responsibilities. Child spacing should be encouraged as a means of achieving better health and a higher standard of living. Women must be motivated to attend family planning clinics and health education programs. Income generation programs for women could be established. Community improvement projects and new housing projects could be instrumental in improving living conditions. Leadership courses and job creation for women must be provided. These activities would highlight women as assets, such as the UN Population Fund described in its 1992 report of The State of the World. Women's high status has been found to be directly related to economic growth and higher quality of life. 7-9% of a child's mortality risk might be reduced for each year of maternal education. In Africa, the ratio of girls to boys in school attendance averages 80 girls to 100 boys in primary school and 47 girls to 100 boys in secondary school. Almost 66% of adult illiterates were women in 1985: 949 million. Early marriage and childbearing perpetuates the cycle of low status and high fertility. Where human resource development has been high, such as in Asian countries, there have been as many as 78% of women active in the labor force. In South Africa, rural women have had as many as 7 children. The growth rate was 2.3% and population has been doubling every 32 years. At the present rate, greater numbers of women will be poor and illiterate, and their children will continue the cycle.