835 



pending on the area and the group being studied."* In many instances 

 where family planning clinics are operating, or family planning in- 

 formation is available, the women who take advantage of these facili- 

 ties are in the later years of their reproductive period, and have already 

 borne all the children they desire (or believe they need), and even 

 more."^ At thii. point, of course, it is too late to stem the consequences 

 in terms of present and future population growth. 



As long as woman's role in the LDCs is essentially restricted to a 

 familial one, fertility is likely to remain high. Since the alternative 

 of independent self-support hardly exists (although this situation too 

 is changing in Latin America) , women in the LDCs have little choice, 

 in both economic and social terms^ other than marriage and a family. 

 If birth rates are to be reduced in any marked way, it would seem 

 that the LDCs need to afford the women of those countries greater 

 degree of freedom of choice regarding their role in life than they can 

 now evercise. This suggests the need for upgrading their educational 

 and employment opportunities, perhaps to the point of reserving a cer- 

 tain quota of jobs for childless and unmarried women. Strong measures 

 along these Imes are likely to assure great opposition, and not only 

 from men. Nevertheless, leaders in some developing countries may con- 

 clude that they must move in this direction to check population growth. 



THE MASCULINE IMAGE 



A comparable set of cultural imperatives apply also to men. A 

 man's status in some of the LDCs is enhanced by the number of chil- 

 dren he fathers. The same compulsion for security in old age presum- 

 ably motivates the men as well as the women to have large families. 

 Sometimes, moreover, there are cultural factors which increase the 

 likelihood of illegitimate births. Thus, according to one authority, in 

 the middle sectors of Latin American society "free sexual activity may 

 be regarded by the man as a sign of his machismo^ *^* This concept of 

 manliness is a valued ideal in Latin American culture, and is composed 

 of elements such as self-assurance and orientation to action, as well as 

 sexual prowess. It may be that the concept of TnacMsmo is in no way 

 responsible for the great rapidity with which the population is in- 

 creasing in Latin America, but since the macho is an admired figure, 

 a certam subtle pressure would seem to be exercised on many Latin 

 American males to live up to the image. 



CUIiTURAL rNERTIA 



Operating as a general constraint on the limitation of family size in 

 the LDCs is what might be called "cultural inertia." Gunnar Myrdal, 

 in his comprehensive work Asian Drama^ points out that suspicion of 



"♦ Ruth B. Dixon, "Remarks to the Symposium on the Food-People Balance, Proceedings 

 of the Symposium." (Washington, D.C.. National Academy of Engineering, 1970), page 28. 



lis Ibid. However, Professor Dixon's view is not necessarily upheld by the figures of abor- 

 tions in Latin America, which indicate that in that area, at any rate, many women do want 

 to regulate the number of their children while still in their fertile years. In a Santiago 

 study, for example, 85 percent of the Induced abortions occurred among married women. A 

 woman desperate enough to have an abortion might be expected to take advantage of 

 whatever family planning service might be available. 



II" Dwlght B. Heath and Richard N. Adams, eds. "Contemporary Cultures and Societies of 

 Latin America." (New York Random House, 1966), pages 272, 509. 



