UNITED NATIONS POPULATION INFORMATION NETWORK (POPIN) UN Population Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, with support from the UN Population Fund (UNFPA)

Population and Women

Experts to Consider Women-Population Nexus
 
The connection between the status of women and the pace of development is 

becoming increasingly clear. Studies have shown that economic growth and 

improvement in the quality of life have been fastest in those areas where 

women enjoy higher status, and slowest where they face the greatest 

disadvantages. There can be no sustainable development without development 

for women.



The Expert Group Meeting on Population and Women, which will take place from 

22-26 June 1992 in Gaborone, the capital of Botswana, will provide a welcome 

opportunity to re-examine this connection and to review changes in women's 

social and economic position since the 1984 International Population 

Conference, changes which are viewed as closely related to recent 

demographic trends.



This is the third of six expert group meetings which form part of the 

crucial preparatory process for the International Conference on Population 

and Development, 1994. Participants will adopt a set of action-oriented 

recommendations that will be presented to the second session of the 

Conference Preparatory Committee.



As a basis for the discussions and recommendations, experts from both 

developing and developed countries, most of whom are women, have been 

invited to present up-to-date information and scientific evidence on topics 

including: social valuation and participation of women and girls, women's 

autonomy and population trends; women, health and mortality; women, 

fertility and family planning; women's education and its impact on health, 

family welfare and fertility; linkages between women's economic activities 

and population dynamics; and population, environment and development: issues 

of special concern for women.



A variety of non-governmental organizations, agencies within the United 

Nations system and representatives of the host Government will also 

participate in the discussions and add their expertise and experience to the 

formulation of the recommendations .



The Honourable Festus Mogae, Vice President and Minister of Finance and 

Planning of Botswana, will open the meeting. Dr. Nafis Sadik, Secretary 

General of the 1994 Conference, and Mr. Shunichi Inoue, Deputy Secretary 

General of the Conference, will address the group during the opening 

session. The Honourable Patrick Balopi, Minister of Labour and Home Affairs, 

Botswana, will preside at the closing ceremony.



The inclusion of women's status and roles as a priority theme for the 

International Conference on Population and Development, 1994 is a sign that 

women's issues are increasingly being viewed by the international community 

as crucial for demographic and social change, as well as matters of concern 

in their own right. This growing concern reflects in part a disappointment 

with the pace of improvement in women's status, in part a growing acceptance 

of the principles espoused in Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of 

Discrimination Against Women. It also reflects a growing conviction that the 

betterment of women's situation is vital for the achievement of other social 

and economic goals, ranging from improved health status of all family 

members, to changes in population growth rates, to the achievement of 

sustainable economic development.