This volume is part of an effort by the International Labour Office to widen the appreciation of salient demographic factors and the role of women as workers in the developing world. As stated in the introduction, it examines issues central to the national planning of four West African nations by focusing on divisions of labor, resources, skills, power and opportunities. Its thesis is threefold: a need for more conceptually rigorous documentation and understanding of social processes on which to base policies and plans; the need to give proper consideration to the diverse and changing roles of women and men; and, that equality of opportunity must be promoted if population policies and plans for national development and individual family well-being are to succeed
