Charles F. Westoff

In the following viewpoint, Charles F. Westoff, a professor of demographic studies and sociology at Princeton University, argues that the problem of rapid population growth in developing nations is serious enough to warrant government intervention. One means of reducing fertility rates in developing nations is to ensure women’s reproductive freedom so that they are not pressured, by their culture or their husbands, into reproducing. However, Westoff cautions that, in contrast to the claims of women’s advocates at a recent international conference on population, merely empowering women will not ensure a decline in fertility rates. An effective population control program, says Westoff, must also provide contraception to women and use television and radio to promote the desirability of small families.

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