Birthrates Help Keep Filipinos in Poverty

[MountainLaurel]

MANILA -- Maria Susana Espinoza wanted only two children. But it was not until after the birth of her fourth child in six years that she learned any details about birth control.

"I knew it existed, but I didn't know how it works," said Espinoza, who lives with her husband and children in a squatter's hut in a vast, stinking garbage dump by Manila Bay.

She and her family belong to the fastest-growing segment of the Philippine population: very poor people with large families. There are many reasons why this country is poor, including feudal patterns of land ownership and corrupt government. But there is a compelling link between family size and poverty. It increases in lock step with the number of children, as nutrition, health, education and job prospects all decline, government statistics and many studies show.

Birth and poverty rates here are among the highest in Asia. And the Philippines, where four out of five of the country's 91 million people are Roman Catholic, also stands out in Asia for its government's rejection of modern contraception as part of family planning.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/20/AR2008042001930.html?hpid=moreheadlines

[bliss_eternal]

1. Thank you for this...

It's a constant source of frustration seeing people assume the only women living in poverty are black and latina. Women lacking exposure to reproductive health care information crosses many racial lines. Clearly black and latina American women aren't the only ones influenced by religion.

I've met quite a few caucasian women that base their "family planning" on religious teachings. But middle class (to wealthy)caucasian women that procreate are actually noted for being influneced by "church and religion", and that seems to be accepted by society, and admirable. By comparison women of color seem to just be seen as "doing what comes naturally" or "hot blooded." :eyes: Few seem to ever consider that many women of color are equally influneced by their religious backgrounds.

So society's messages seems to be it's admirable and holy for middle class women to dismiss birth control based on their religion. But women in poverty, lacking access to reproductive health education and influenced by their religions are seen as just "bleeding the system." :(

[mrreowwr_kittty]

2. And from an environmental standpoint:

One affluent "western" child will consume up to 30 times as much resources in her or his lifetime as the poor child from the undeveloped region.

[bliss_eternal]

3. Great point!

:thumbsup:

[Lydia Leftcoast]

4. In general, though, education is the best contraceptive

From country to country, it is the educated women who have the fewest children, and once a country reaches the stage where almost all women are high school graduates, the average number of children drops to two or fewer. Japan and some European countries are already below replacement level, and the U.S. would be there if it weren't for immigration.

[bliss_eternal]

5. ....good to see you!

:hi:

I'm curious, if you might have any opinion (or any background information) about the well-educated women that seem more influenced by their religious backgrounds, than anything else?

Meeting and spending time with women like this(well educated, but religious) was for lack of better words, freaky. :crazy:
It's like they weren't influenced by their educations at all. Almost as if they didn't really learn anything while obtaining a masters degree. Like they just regurgitated the information to get the degree, but continued to live based on their religious backgrounds. :shrug:

Of course the women I met could have been a weird, Twilight Zone sort of exception. ;) Hopefully it's not contagious, as they ALL had ALOT of kids. :scared:

[Lydia Leftcoast]

6. I don't know any well-educated women who have lots of children

They max out at three, and even that's uncommon. It seems to happen usually when the first two are of the same gender.

However, there is a belief (I don't know how common it is) that one should have a lot of children if one can afford it. It's a kind of elitist view, the idea that ("low quality") poor people are having too many children and "high-quality" rich people aren't having enough. It's the new eugenics.