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PASSAGE - III Among the natural resources that can be called upon in national plans for development, possibly, the most important is human labour. Since the English language suffers from a certain weakness in its ability to describe groups composed of both male and female members, this is usually described as ‘manpower’. Without a productive labour force, including effective leadership and intelligent middle management no amount foreign assistance or natural wealth can ensure successful development and modernization.
The manpower for development during the next quarter century will come from the world’s present population of infants, children and adolescents. But we are not sure that they will be equal to the task. Will they have the health, the education, the skills,the socio-cultural attitude essential for the responsibilities of development?
For fat too may of them the answer is no. The reason is basic. A child’s most critical years, with regard to physical, intellectual, social and emotional development, are those before he reaches five years of age. During those critical formative years he is cared for almost exclusively by his mother, and in many parts of the world the mother may not have the capacity to raise a superior child. She is incapable of doing so because of her own poor health, ignorance and lack of status and recognition of social and legal rights, and economic parity of independence
One essential factor has been overlooked or ignored – the role of women. Development will be handicapped as long as women remain second-class citizens, uneducated, without any voice in family or community decisions, without legal or economic status, married when they are still practically children, and thereafter producing one baby after another, often only to see half of them die before they are of school going age.
We can enhance development by improving ‘‘woman power’’, by giving women the opportunity to develop themselves. Statistics show that the average family size increases in inverse ratio to the mother’s years of education — is lowest among college graduates, highest among those with only primary school training or no education. Malnutrition is most frequent in large families and increases in frequency with each additional sibling.
The principle established seems that an educated mother has healthier and more intelligent children, and that this is related to the fact that she has fewer children. The tendency of educated, upper-class mothers to have fewer children exists even without access to contraceptive services.
The educational level of women is significant also because it has a direct influence upon their chances of employment; and the number of employed women in a country’s total labour force has a direct bearing on both the Gross National Product and the disposable income of the individual family. Disposable income, especially in the hands of women, influences food purchasing and therefore the nutritional status of the family. The fact that this additional income derives from the paid employment of women provides a logical incentive to restrict the size of the family.
The manpower for development during the next quarter century will come from the world’s present population of infants, children and adolescents. But we are not sure that they will be equal to the task. Will they have the health, the education, the skills,the socio-cultural attitude essential for the responsibilities of development?
For fat too may of them the answer is no. The reason is basic. A child’s most critical years, with regard to physical, intellectual, social and emotional development, are those before he reaches five years of age. During those critical formative years he is cared for almost exclusively by his mother, and in many parts of the world the mother may not have the capacity to raise a superior child. She is incapable of doing so because of her own poor health, ignorance and lack of status and recognition of social and legal rights, and economic parity of independence
One essential factor has been overlooked or ignored – the role of women. Development will be handicapped as long as women remain second-class citizens, uneducated, without any voice in family or community decisions, without legal or economic status, married when they are still practically children, and thereafter producing one baby after another, often only to see half of them die before they are of school going age.
We can enhance development by improving ‘‘woman power’’, by giving women the opportunity to develop themselves. Statistics show that the average family size increases in inverse ratio to the mother’s years of education — is lowest among college graduates, highest among those with only primary school training or no education. Malnutrition is most frequent in large families and increases in frequency with each additional sibling.
The principle established seems that an educated mother has healthier and more intelligent children, and that this is related to the fact that she has fewer children. The tendency of educated, upper-class mothers to have fewer children exists even without access to contraceptive services.
The educational level of women is significant also because it has a direct influence upon their chances of employment; and the number of employed women in a country’s total labour force has a direct bearing on both the Gross National Product and the disposable income of the individual family. Disposable income, especially in the hands of women, influences food purchasing and therefore the nutritional status of the family. The fact that this additional income derives from the paid employment of women provides a logical incentive to restrict the size of the family.
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