Governments should regard family planning in the same way they view and prioritize other human-capital investments in education, labourforce participation and political participation. This is one more way of improving the bargaining position of women in society. In fact, family planning programmes and declines in fertility have their maximum impact in societies that are making complementary investments in increasing female schooling, expanding labour market opportunities, and experiencing economic changes that fundamentally change the cost-benefit tradeoff of high fertility.