A few nights ago my roommate and I were engaged in one of our routine midnight catch-up sessions. We went through from the basic “How was the day?” to “Anything interesting happen?” to her revealing an intriguing story she had read about the measures NASA was taking to addressing women’s health among their female astronauts. Although it was a strange topic, it brought up some important issues of women’s health in society today.
One of the greatest freedoms women have gained in the past century is more control over their menstrual cycle through the use of contraceptives. Contraceptives not only allow women more freedom, but they empower women and enable them to make rational decisions about their lives. The ability to decide when to bear children is crucial to a woman’s economic and social advancement. With the power to decide, women are more likely to get a college education and go further on into graduate studies, as well as reach higher positions within their professions. Contraceptives have also been greatly effective in family life. Unplanned pregnancies are connected to added dissatisfaction and stress on new parents, leading to failed relationships and overall distress. The use of contraceptive methods has the potential to decrease dissatisfaction, lower the risk of depression and improve the well being of the child, especially among teen parents.
As contraceptives have proved widely advantageous, the issue of providing women with these tools still remains relevant across the globe. Many women in third world countries lack access to preventive methods, causing them to seek out unsafe alternatives, which harms themselves and their families. About 358,000 women and 3 million newborns die each year, with 10-15% of them due to unsafe abortions. Melinda Gates, wife of billionaire and philanthropist Bill Gates, believes this number can be reduced with the campaign of birth control and other contraceptive methods in developing countries. She has pledged to spend nearly $120 million "to extend affordable life-saving contraceptive services to the world’s poorest countries by the year 2020.” Melinda is one of the many advocates for sexual health in third world countries striving to improve women's lives, but despite all their efforts combined the problem still persists.
One step we can take is to increase conversation about contraceptive options and sexual health among both women and men. The topic of sexual health has become more approachable in comparison to previous generations, but this is only the gateway to properly educate youth, who are increasingly sexually active without familiarity. To address this problem, many apps and websites have been created to reach young people. Earlier this year, a new sex-ed app, Juicebox, was released. It aims to provide sexual health tips via mobile phones, complete with different avenues inside the app to talk to professionals and join in a group discussion among other app users. Apps and programs like Juicebox help normalize and increase the conversation among young people. Catering to a technology-native generation, they take a step in the right direction by offering free education to both young men and women, providing them with the information needed to have a safe sexual experience.
Although we don't have a clear future set out for the use of contraceptives and sexual health, we have plenty of routine late night talks to spark the discussion and inspire others to dive into the possibilities to better the lives of those around the world.
