Women and the United Nations: the lineages of the World Plan of Population

Abstract

In the 70´s the United Nations adopted an enlarged definition of women´s rights and started the implementation of a policiy of "integration of women into the development process". The 1974 World Conference on Population sponsored by the UN was a landmark in the history of this issue within intergovernamental foruns. In the wake if a redefinition of demographic problems within the context of economic and cultural development and of the restatement of the political character of the population question, a new emphasis is given to the need to promote the participation of women in social, economic, cultural and political life. This article analyzes fertility control and development - the two issues that resulted in the lineages of thought at the root of the concern with women´s status and roles which was slowly growing within the UN since the late 60´s.