This article, written by Gita Sen, analyses the historic paradigm shift in global population policy embodied in the World Programme of Action (WPOA), adopted at the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo. Writing in January 1995 in Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development (Volume 37, Issue 1), Sen examines how the WPOA decisively moved the focus away from demographic targets towards a rights-based approach centred on women’s empowerment, gender equality, and comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). Forged through intense negotiations and effective feminist advocacy, the WPOA establishes reproductive rights as fundamental human rights and obliges governments to ensure their realisation. It is presented as a landmark framework that redefined population issues through the lens of equity and justice, setting a new global standard for accountability.