2014 IUSSP Laureate Ceremony for Thérèse Locoh
IUSSP President, Anastasia Gage presented the 2014 IUSSP Laureate to Thérèse Locoh during a special session at the European Population Conference in Budapest. The 90-minute special session rich in emotion focused on gender and Africa, two scientific subjects especially dear to Thérèse Locoh.
In the first half of the session, Anastasia Gage presented a study on preventing child marriage in Ethiopia. Drawing on a survey of adolescent and young adults, she demonstrated how information needed to change attitudes must come from both the mass media as well as local social networks. Armelle Andro, Thérèse’s former doctoral student, provided an overview of the history of gender studies presenting the principle indicators and touching on recent debates in gender theory.
During the second half of the session, devoted to the Laureate, Anastasia Gage highlighted the rich contributions Thérèse Locoh has made to the study of gender in demography, and particularly in Africa drawing on the nomination letter, written by Jacques Vallin and supported by 80 IUSSP members. She also spoke about the influence of Thérèse’s work on her own research gratifying her with the title of “Mama Africa”. In her response, Thérèse Locoh recalled how the theme of gender slowly found its just place in population studies and how the IUSSP contributed to its diffusion through its special committees and sessions that have grown in number with each International Population Conference. The session ended with testimonials from of friends and colleagues present at the session.
It was a passionate session where French and English harmoniously intermingled to honor a great demographer.