Jordan Royal

Date of Award

2013

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Alcock, Frank

Keywords

Population, Women's Rights, Environment

Area of Concentration

Environmental Studies

Abstract

Human overpopulation is an important issue because it has a myriad of adverse impacts on the environment and our species survival. This thesis introduces the self-reinforcing relationship between population pressures and environmental issues, emphasizing the pertinence of population control. Two distinctive approaches to addressing population pressures are highlighted: top-down coercion and bottom-up empowerment. Through analyzing the diffusion of norms regarding gender equality and women's rights and empowerment at international conferences on population and development, I argue that a shift within the international community's approach to population control has taken place. The international community has shifted from supporting top-down approaches to fertility reduction to advocating bottom-up empowerment efforts aimed at improving women's rights in order to reduce population growth. A case study analysis on Bangladesh and Indonesia is provided to explore the progression of normative diffusion at the domestic level. I argue that norms regarding women's rights have begun to cascade at the international level, but such norms still meet resistance at the domestic level due to cultural and religious barriers.

Rights

The author has granted New College of Florida the nonexclusive right to archive, make accessible, and distribute for educational purposes this work in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. The copyright of this work remains with the author.

Download

Share

COinS