Customer Reviews

More: Population, Nature, and What Women Want

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

It seems inevitable that the world food crisis, combined with climate change and rising energy prices, will spur a renewed and contentious debate over the issue of population. Before that debate is renewed in its full intensity, everyone should read this book.

What the author gives us, and what is so desperately need at this critical juncture in the debate over population, is historical perspective. His book, in fact, takes up back to our ancestral roots to give us a better understanding of such things as human reproduction, the centuries' old debate over population, and efforts by governments to "control" population by encouraging human procreation or restricting it.

Many people today believe that birth control is a thoroughly modern invention, but as Engelman observes in his book, women throughout history have sought to control their fertility, as well as enhance it. In response to shrinking resources or deteriorating conditions, women have often sought--though not always successfully--to space or limit their pregnancies.

Engelman takes what he calls a "Zen' approach to population. He argues that the best way to "control" population is to give up control, by giving women the power to decide for themselves when to bear a child.

He notes that many women in the world still lack access to modern contraceptive methods and that, if given that access, fertility rates will likely decline further. Giving girls the education they need and the equality they deserve, he argues, would also result in lower fertility rates.

At the same time, he voices the conviction that concerns about an eventual population implosion are overblown. As the planet gets less crowded, he believes that women will want more children, enough at least to keep fertility rates at or near the "replacement rate" needed to stabilize population.

Engelman makes clear, however, that world population may already be, or may soon be, unsustainable. He stops well short of making a Malthusian prediction about impending famine, but he says, "...it's getting hard to be confident that fishers and farmers will easily feed the 9.2 billion people projected to be alive in 2050."

In the last chapter, he notes that people in developing countries dream of acquiring the necessities that we take for granted. "But what happens," he asks, "when the dreams of people everywhere become unsustainable--not because of the nature of the dreams, but because the numbers of the dreamers?"

If you concerned about global population or just interested in learning more about the topic and the debate that swirls around it, this is an entertaining, informative and compelling book. I highly recommend it.

Finally, a book about population and family planning that those of us who work on population issues can distribute proudly to those who aren't in the field!

Engelman outlines the history of women managing their fertility through the ages, from our humble beginnings as homo erectus through modern day. Throughout human history some women have prevented conception with herbs and pessaries. And some women have always backed up these methods with abortion and infanticide.

His point is that women's desire to have small families is not new and that modern contraception should be available to any woman who wants it, in order to avoid the crude methods that our ancestors were stuck with.

Engelman writes about women with great respect and humorously describes why men and women so often differ on their ideas about ideal childbearing (both timing and total number). In fact, humor is an integral part of this book. Engelman was a journalist in a past life and his catchy, accessible writing style shines through on every page.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about demography, women's reproductive rights, and/or anthropology. This book should interest just about anyone and is not the dry, academic sort of textbook that you might expect of this topic. I'm even going to propose it as a selection for my monthly book club!

Probably the most important book I have read this year. His solution to overpopulation is rather simple and only really involves giving women their basic human rights. The solution basically boils down to simply giving women power over their own bodies, and the right to choose what is best for themselves. What the author shows the reader is that when women are allowed to control their own reproduction then they make choices that are not only best for themselves, but also what is best for their families and in the end for their communities as well. This makes the author's position very easy to defend because even if you don't believe the world suffers from overpopulation it doesn't matter because the author is saying that women should decide what is right for themselves. If you don't agree with his basic premise it is still very hard to try and assail his solution.

The author does an excellent job detailing the history of sex as well. The author puts forward a lot of ideas that at the very least will make the reader think. His discussion on the history of birth control was fascinating. I did not realize that so much had come before modern methods. What this history shows in the end is the importance of giving women (and men) options.

Whether you agree with the author or not, his book is a very interesting and entertaining read. While a lot of it is heavy lifting, the author adds some comical asides every now and then to lighten the load. I think this is a very important read. The history is fascinating and the author's own experience adds a tremendous amount of perspective to this very important topic. You need to read this book.

Any man who writes a book with "what women want" in the title opens himself to mockery, but Engelman's conclusion is close enough to the Wife of Bath's that he can almost be forgiven it.

Taking a Malthusian view of population increase, Engelman notes that the "natural" curbs on population growth outpacing sustainability are the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: Famine, War, and Pestilence (Death, as Engelman notes, is just the body-collector for the other 3). However, Engelman sees a better way: given access to a complete portfolio of family planning services, women (on average) tend to choose a sustainable population level. Not men. No doubt this is because typical women's reproductive agendas (fewer children, higher level of investment) is more adapted to a crowded planet than the typical man's. However it is a more empowering philosophy than trying to force population control through government.

Included in this book is a history of demographics, a history of family planning, and Engelman's interesting reading of some Biblical stories through the eyes of his own concerns. And the interesting fact that George H.W. Bush used to be such a proponent of family planning that he got the nickname "Rubbers" before he sold out to the Reaganites.

Only in the last few years has the environmentalist community's urgent warning of the perils of human-induced global warming begun to be reported seriously by the mainstream American media and to have a significant impact on public discourse and policy. Although still inadequate to the need, this discourse far exceeds the meager attention currently given in the public sphere to the root cause of global warming -- excessive population, both human and animal -- and the environmental, economic and social consequences of population growth.

A recently published book, More: Population, Nature, and What Women Want, by longtime population analyst and activist Robert Engelman, does much to fill this void with the big picture it conveys. Engelman's principal goal is to show how human numbers have grown to the point of unsustainability and to suggest the most effective way to curb their further increase in the hope of preventing the ultimate danger they pose--our extinction. This highly readable book merits widespread circulation and careful consideration not only by politicians, policy makers, and members of the media, but also by the general public, especially young people, who will need far more wisdom and understanding in dealing with the looming crises facing humankind and the natural world than their parents and grandparents have exhibited. It would make an ideal book to challenge and stimulate college students through the important perspective it gives on the past and the insights it contains for the present.

In what follows, I have highlighted concepts, concerns, themes, paradigms, facts, and historical perspectives in Engelman's work that I find particularly noteworthy and compelling for an appreciation of the intimate connections and interactions of human gender, reproduction, numbers, and environmental stress that form the main focus of the book. In doing this, I have liberally paraphrased and quoted the author's carefully chosen words, knowing that I cannot do better. I hope this extract will whet the reader's appetite for the real thing, or for those who may read nothing else, at least help convey the importance of population in our lives, and encourage active interest and participation in the vital issues with which Engelman so eloquently deals. [...]

Population growth is a controversial topic, a contested landscape where consensus is rarely achieved. Many authors have stayed away from engaging the analysis of population issues to avoid long discussions. This topic is little covered in the mainstream media as well. The stances adopted, however, have deep implications for society. This book brings the population issue to the front of the discussion, approaching the topic from a comprehensive perspective that includes historical and contemporary accounts. The book provides new analytical insights to understand the problem, filling a gap in the literature discussing population issues in the current social and environmental context, especially as it relates to the relationship between gender dominance, control over childbearing, and population growth within the context of the mutual interactions between socioeconomic dimensions and ecological conditions, addressing its present situation and its potential scenarios.

As a proposal to address the population problem, the main argument presented in the book is that the most important factor regulating population growth is women's ability to manage their own fertility. This could be achieved by making family planning and broader sexual and reproductive health available to people everywhere. The rationale is that given the choice, women typically decide to have fewer children than when their choices are limited. Where contraception options are readily available, and are backed by safe abortion procedures, women average two children or less. As the author points out, women are not seeking more children, but more for their children, nurturing them to adulthood with their best possible future in mind. In this context, avoiding unintended pregnancies is an essential strategy for achieving those dreams.

Gender inequalities play a huge role in creating and addressing the population problem. Much of the population debate has flowed without consideration of the lives of the ones who bear children. However, today's availability of contraceptive methods represents an opportunity to restore control over childbearing to women, as a moment in the history of population growth as important as the invention of the plow in agricultural societies. This invention increased a gendered division of labor and thus influenced gender relations, which in turn led to the institutionalization of beliefs and practices where women get more pregnancies than intended.

Population growth is a problem that today affects both rural and urban livelihoods. Many farmers in developing countries need to cultivate every inch of arable land, including hillsides, to be able to feed their families. But parents are no longer able to divide their lands among their children, creating the need for many young landless individuals to find opportunities in the increasingly crowded cities. However, these people find it difficult to find affordable housing, employment, health services, and survival opportunities in the cities. This situation gets worse as a result of growing restrictions in water and food supply, creating rising social pressures. The genocide in Rwanda is an example of conflicts exacerbated as a result of land scarcity. The alternative suggested by the author is to include greater amounts of state funding for family planning. This should be done both nationally and internationally, especially in countries with the biggest population growth ratios, which usually find it difficult to invest in clinics and dispensaries stocked with contraceptives and staff to provide medical services.

Ecological sustainability is also a critical area aggravated by growing population numbers. An example refers to the increased rates of human-induced climate change. In rural areas, increased farming and cattle raising activities releases methane into the atmosphere, in a similar way to the release of carbon dioxide as a result of industrial and automobile pollution in urban areas. Likewise, the need for farmland has led to increased deforestation, soil erosion, landslides, and exchange of pathogens. Whereas these problems cannot be attributed only to population growth, proposed alternatives that exclude population growth as one of the root causes of the problem are likely to be ineffective in the long term. The author's suggestion for avoiding ecological destruction is not to neglect the aspirations and expectations of people, but to reduce the number of new people and thus the impact of their activities, increasing their chances of achieving their dreams, and the ones of their children.

While the main argument of the author seems to be compelling, the proposed ways of carrying it out in practice raise some concerns about the feasibility of their implementation. One issue relates to the politically correct way of presenting the argument, intended to appeal to a broad audience. A "silver bullet" approach that assumes the cooperation of the different parties involved, but that only works when their interests converge. However, in practice the most common pattern is the divergence and opposition of interests. Divergent approaches can be found between men and women, government and society's concerns, politics and people's lives. Assessing these differences in terms of chances of overcoming these tensions is likely to influence the viability of the proposal, and its prospects for taking advantage of its potential. Anticipating likely opposition would have allowed the author to target specific audiences and provide more clear guidelines for action, increasing the chances of translating these ideas into practice.

Culture also emerges as a critical factor, making a significant difference in terms of people's behavior. While its coverage in the book is limited and only approached in a circumstantial way, public understanding of population trends could be considerably enhanced by a more prominent and systematic analysis of cultural dynamics. A more culturally-sensitive approach could help explain why sexually active people who do not want pregnancies refrain from making use of the health centers or pharmacies available to them. It could anticipate potential household problems created, like in the case of Niger, by the decline from 8 to 7.6 children per woman while the expectations in their male partners are having 10.8 children. Greater emphasis on cultural aspects could also provide insights to understand the factors that influence the age that women start bearing children, the power dynamics in the access to contraceptive methods and its representations, the role of some churches and other institutions whose contributions to the problem should be exposed, among other factors.

Overall, this book represents a very valuable contribution to understand demographic trends, providing powerful arguments for improving population policies. It is a highly recommended reading for everyone interested in population dynamics, reproductive health, women's rights, or just concerned for the future of the planet. It provides ample evidence to appraise the mutual interactions between social and environmental aspects, and how the continuity or change in the power relationships embedded in the control of reproduction affects the orientation of social life, either towards demographic sustainability or socio-environmental disaster, depending on the population policies adopted, evidencing the need for political action at different levels.

This was a very enlightening read for me. The author does a really good job of making his case for family planning and the necessity of making sure that women have control and plenty of choices over their bodies and reproduction. This book really details the problems with population rise, and gives a pretty good historical account of why population stability is so important. This is an important book that needs to be read.

The author offers the reader a pretty good thumbnail sketch of the theories of where we Homo Sapiens originally came from, and why it was that we ended up on top rather than some of our distant cousins. Many of these theories are subjective and in the field of evolutionary biology there are as many theories as there are really good scholars, pretty good scholars, amateurs and your run of the mill crackpot, so for the number of pages the author does a really nice job giving the reader a good sampling of theories without overloading the reader.

Next the author gives the reader a very interesting history of contraceptives, attitudes towards sex over human history, feminism and opposition to all of these. I was fascinated to learn parts of history I was completely ignorant about before reading this book. The author also posits some very interesting theories about humans move to agrarian societies all the way to the witch trials in Europe. The author makes a very strong argument for sex and population being very important prime movers in human events. Of course population size and sex are always important, but this book has put forth some ideas I had not considered before.

What was very compelling for me was the author's work and description of working in third world countries. Reading his interviews with these people and getting an idea of the desperation they live with and the problems they face because they do not have access to adequate contraceptives or education was distressing. I couldn't imagine a life spent either pregnant or taking care of an infant all of ones life, or having sex be similar to playing Russian roulette where every encounter could cause pregnancy or disease. Even more than that was how badly these people want access to contraceptives and family planning resources which is heartbreaking. As I was reading about all the deaths and disease attributable to abortions and births performed in unsafe conditions that could have been prevented with nothing more than a simple condom you realize how lucky we are and just how little it would take to change other peoples lives for the better.

This book has some very well thought out arguments with detailed conclusions backed up with historical data and first hand research. Not only that but the author presents the material in a very accessible way. The book is short which diminishes the intimidation factor, and will hopefully make it more palatable for a more general readership. My one main criticism is that I hate the silly little puns and some of the attempts at levity that peppers this work. The author is obviously a well educated individual who has written a well thought out scientific book that is meant to be taken seriously. These puns and metaphors in scientific works are the bane of my existence. I cannot express the depth of my loathing for this practice. They irk me to no end. With that said, I understand that the author was attempting to give this book a wider readership and perhaps these attempts at levity help to lighten a very deep and serious subject for readers helping to bring more people to the book, but my understanding that doesn't have to mean that I like it. I didn't take off for it though, but felt I still needed to vent here a little.

This is a very serious subject, and is one that needs our attention now. This book is important for the discussion that needs to be taking place now. With that said I highly recommend this work.

Reports vary, but about 2752 people died in the 9/11 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. In response, the United States has spent (so far) over a trillion dollars and perhaps half a million people have died in a "war on terror" all this with vast amounts of media coverage.
Today, and every other day since 9/11, about 22,000 people died of complications of hunger, most of them children, 8 million a year. In addition, violent conflicts, genocides and natural disasters come fundamentally from too many people competing for too little space. But population has almost disappeared from media and public debate. The U.S. spends less than $400 million a year on family planning programs. Before 2015, barring disaster, human population will have grown from 1 billion to 7 billion in just over two hundred years. Many ecologists think we are in "overshoot" with current population unsustainable on this small planet. Engelman's book, in this context, should be read by everyone.
Engelman's combination of a sharp reporter's eye and ear with serious depth of historical research and long population NGO experience packs this book with big ideas and fascinating stories. He paints the historical big picture--while quoting the moving words of a poor woman in Kenya. Engelman made a serious effort to listen to what women, throughout history, had to say about family planning and child bearing. He empathizes with the challenges women face in places where large families lead to higher death rates and poverty for children and women. He spent two decades observing successful and unsuccessful population control efforts.
The core message of More : "Women aren't seeking more children, but more for their children." ( p8) If every woman was free to choose family size and had access to birth control, the world's population would stabilize. And, that would be a very good thing for many reasons including reducing poverty, war, disease and environmental losses--and, by the way, terrorism. The price tag for providing birth control to every poor woman would be a fraction of the U.S. budget for the Iraq war.
This message is even more important and fundamental than Al Gore's global warming Jeremiad, in fact, the growth in human population drives global warming and most other environmental disasters. Population growth will almost certainly stop during this century. What remains to be seen is whether this pause will occur mainly by reduction in birth rates and longer lives (as in Europe) or continued high birth rates and shorter lives (as in Africa). Will humans be wise enough to stop growth or suffer growth and collapse? Engelman argues that individual women prefer fewer children with longer lives, better futures and higher incomes.
Engelman does a nice job of making population history understandable and simple. Where demographers and ecologists might talk about logistic functions, Engelman points out that population growth meant that our pre-historic ancestors, at certain times, must have been able to raise three or more children. Any surplus above replacement fertility levels leads to exponential population growth. He traces historical evidence that women practiced birth control, abortion and infanticide for thousands of years in recognition that having fewer children improved their children's lives. If everybody in the world read this book and acted on its message, the human future would be far brighter.
While agreeing with everything Engelman says, I do feel that now that human population has increased above sustainable levels, your children--or rather, the sum of the 375,000 births per day, 136 million births per year--affect outcomes for my children. The world children will inherit differs depending on population growth--with a range of possible outcomes from collapse to prosperity. "Your rights do not include the right to damage others" logic led to all kinds of regulations such as drivers' licenses, drunk driving laws, zoning and land use regulations and so on. Governments do have a role in regulating population while protecting individual's rights, in fact, to protect individual's rights (to peace and a habitable planet, for example, not to mention affordable gasoline). When our actions affect other people--including future generations for millions of years-- then governments need to help women get to the good outcomes they want for their children by promoting responsible family planning. More countries are going to need something like China's one child policy to bring population and resources back into balance. Most Chinese have accepted the one child policy as preferable to living in a country with over 4 billion people--the forecast that led to the policy.
Engelman's message is more optimistic--he says population stability will happen by individual choices where women are free to control reproduction. But if so many responsible couples choose smaller families, why should irresponsible people be allowed to make life dangerous and resources scarce and expensive for the rest of us? An ancient Babylonian flood story quoted by Engelman "depicts overpopulation... as so painful the land itself howls." (p. 97) Alas, Babylon.

This book is written well, with extensive research, numerous statistics and a sense of humor. The author is vice president for programs at the Worldwatch Institute and was formerly vice president for research at Population Action International. There are ten chapters with interesting titles, such as "The Grandmother of Invention", "Punishing Eve", and "Zen and the Art of Population Maintenance." Early in the Preface there is an intriguing quote; "A population activist named Sharon Camp happened to suggest that if all the world's women could determine for themselves when and when not to have children, population problems would resolve themselves with no need for government "control." This is the theme of the book.
As a result of its strong ties to social norms, politics, and religion, I have always found the population problem to be challenging and frustrating. I found "More" to be an encouraging book, and recommend it to everyone with an interest in the long term future of humanity and our world. More: Population, Nature, and What Women Want

"More" is on the ROROTOKO list of cutting-edge intellectual nonfiction. Robert Engelman's book interview ran here as cover feature on March 27, 2009.