On 9/4/06, paul phillips <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Michael, I think you might well reconsider this post. We know, for instance, that facilitating female education (which is opposed by conservative Islamic patriarchy) greatly reduces birth rates and is the only long term solution to overpopulation and the assault on natural resources (e.g. deforestation in Africa, Asia, South America.). This is just one example of the relationship between religion, gender and the economy.
Look at changes in contraceptive use and fertility rate in Iran: <http://devdata.worldbank.org/genderstats/genderRpt.asp?rpt=profile&cty=IRN,Iran,%20Islamic%20Rep.&hm=home>. Note a great leap in contraceptive use, which is interesting, considering that this is, after all, an Islamic republic: from 23% in 1980 to 74% in 2000 (the 2004 figure unavailable), compared to the 2004 LMI (Lower-Middle Income) average of 76% and the 2004 Middle East/North Africa average of 59%. Iran's fertility rate is now 2.1, the same as the LMI average and much better than the Middle East/North Africa average of 3.0. You may compare Iran's stats and trends to those of the secular republics of Syria and Turkey on the same subjects of contraceptive use and fertility rate: Syria, 45% (2000, the 2004 figure unavailable), fertility rate, 3.3 (2004) <http://devdata.worldbank.org/genderstats/genderRpt.asp?rpt=profile&cty=SYR,Syrian%20Arab%20Republic&hm=home>; Turkey, contraceptive use, 71% (2004), fertility rate, 2.2 (2004) <http://devdata.worldbank.org/genderstats/genderRpt.asp?rpt=profile&cty=TUR,Turkey&hm=home> or semi-secular Algeria's, Egypt's, and Jordan's: Algeria, contraceptive use, 57% (2004), fertility rate, 2.5 (2004) <http://devdata.worldbank.org/genderstats/genderRpt.asp?rpt=profile&cty=DZA,Algeria&hm=home> Egypt, contraceptive use, 60% (2004), fertility rate, 3.2 (2004) <http://devdata.worldbank.org/genderstats/genderRpt.asp?rpt=profile&cty=EGY,Egypt,%20Arab%20Rep.&hm=home> Jordan, contraceptive use, 56% (2004), fertility rate 3.4 (2004) <http://devdata.worldbank.org/genderstats/genderRpt.asp?rpt=profile&cty=JOR,Jordan&hm=home>. Iran has done even better than Turkey. -- Yoshie <http://montages.blogspot.com/> <http://mrzine.org> <http://monthlyreview.org/>
