| Chapter 1: | Introduction |
|
|
Hindu women (Jeffery & Jeffery, 2000; Reddy, 2003). A possible explanation for such mixed results is that the effect of religion on fertility is generally complicated by the simultaneous effects of other variables that are difficult to adequately control. To properly ascertain the effect of religious affiliation on fertility behavior, a unique body of data is required.
Studies have summarized several reasons for the high fertility of Muslims compared with other religious groups, including the high degree of tenacity with which old beliefs and practices are maintained by Muslims; the persistent resistance among Muslims against change and modernity, which are identified with Christianity; conformity to religious and social practices, which are closely interwoven in Muslim life; the strong patrilineal and patrilocal quality of the Muslim family, with male responsibility and dominance prescribed by the Koran; the belief that the pleasures of the flesh, and especially sexual intercourse, are a God-given virtue to be enjoyed and a conjugal obligation to be fulfilled; and the unusually subordinate place of women in Muslim society. However, Omran (1992) suggested that, to understand the high fertility of Muslims, greater emphasis should be placed on the existing conditions in their countries rather than on the doctrines of Islam. This religious sentiment has been countered by a body of secularists and feminists.
One of the most significant changes in the current views of population growth as a factor in reproductive health took place at the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), which was held in Cairo, Egypt. For the preceding 50 years, family planning policies and programs had formed the foundation for global population growth control. The ICPD broadened this narrow view of population control to include individual health and the idea that population growth can be controlled if women could advance socially, politically, and