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Wendy Chavkin
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 Professor,
School of Public Health
Columbia University, United States
Research: Fertility Decline and the Empowerment of Women
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Wendy Chavkin is Professor of Clinical Public Health and
Obstetrics/Gynecology at Columbia University, Mailman School
of Public Health and College of Physicians & Surgeons
in New York City. Dr. Chavkin currently serves as the director
of the Soros Reproductive Health and Rights Fellowship and
as the chair to the Board of Directors of Physicians for
Reproductive Choice and Health. From 1994 to 2002 she was
Editor-in-Chief of The Journal of the American Medical Women's
Association and from 1984 to 1988 she served as the director
of The Bureau of Maternity Services and Family Planning
in New York City's Department of Health.
Dr. Chavkin received her medical degree from the State
University of New York in 1978 and a Master's degree in
Public Health from Columbia University, Mailman School of
Public Health, in 1981. Dr. Chavkin has been recognized
twice by the American Women's Association, receiving the
Bertha Van Hoosen Award in 2003 and the President's Award
in 2002. She has written extensively about women's reproductive
health issues for over two decades, including the consequences
of welfare reform for the health of women and children,
occupational health, reproductive health in medical education,
HIV, and illegal drug use in pregnancy.
Selected Publications:
Chavkin W, Romero D, and Wise PH. "State Welfare Reform
Policies and Declines in Health Insurance," American
Journal of Public Health, 2000; 90:900-908.
Chavkin W, Wise PH and Elman D. "Welfare Reform and
Women's Health," American Journal of Public Health,
1998;88(7):1017-1018.
Chavkin W, Breitbart V, Elman D, and Wise P. "National
Survey of the States: Policies and Practices Regarding Drug-Using
Pregnant Women," American Journal of Public Health,
1998; 88(1):117-119.
Chavkin W, Breitbart V, and Wise P. "Finding Common
Ground: The Necessity of an Integrated Agenda for Women's
and Children's Health," The Journal of Law, Medicine
and Ethics, 1994; 22(3):262-269.
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Fertility Decline and the Empowerment of Women
The goal is to develop a policy framework that addresses
fertility decline and the empowerment of women as compatible
societal concerns. The specific aim is to create an evidence-based
menu of policy options to present to policymakers grappling
with the conflicting social consequences of fertility decline
and the implementation of the Cairo consensus to empower
women.
The United Nations International Conference on Population
and Development in Cairo and the Fourth World Conference
on Women in Beijing agreed that population, development,
and the environment are integrally linked, and that the
empowerment of women is required to make this vision a reality.
Empowerment of women was defined to include providing women
with access to employment, education, and reproductive health
care free from discrimination, coercion, and violence. These
factors are also linked with fertility decline, a global
phenomenon, and a growing concern for governments planning
for future workforce and social security needs.
Through collaboration with experts in Sweden (Centre of
Gender Related Medicine, Karolinska Institutet) and Quebec
(Department of Demography, Université de Montréal),
I will gather empirical evidence of the impact of policy
interventions designed to affect birthrates and two indices
of "empowerment": the Gender Empowerment Measure,
and access to reproductive health care. This will serve
as the first phase of a multi-country comparative study
of the efficacy and collateral consequences of such policies.
This initial two case study design will allow me to refine
the variables of interest, and to test the method in different
settings.
Policy responses to declining fertility, women's workforce
and political participation, and the provision of reproductive
health services have multi-sectoral social ramifications,
critically affecting women's roles, lifecourse options,
and contributions to national development. Because the cluster
of changes spans such key institutions as family, labor,
and healthcare, the project requires both interdisciplinary
and cross-national study, and thus fulfills both the thematic
and collaborative objectives of the New Century Scholars
Program
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