all over the world women are undervalued
and Exploited and while the fight for
equality continues female empowerment is
improved significantly but only
relatively recently the catalyst for
that change might be down to one of the
most important health care inventions in
the 20th century here's how the pill
gave women power
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over a hundred years ago as the women's
suffrage movement forced voting rights
in the u.s. a social activist was
fighting for something we might take for
granted today
a woman's control over her own body
Margaret Sanger a nurse from New York
was imprisoned for opening a birth
control clinic in 1916 what would then
go on to become Planned Parenthood in
America at a time when anti obscenity
laws prevented doctors even discussing
birth control of their patients early
forms of contraception were taboo and
relatively ineffective the woman could
have many more children than she might
want be able to care for or physically
survive saying his own mother died at
the age of 49
after having 22 pregnancies following
decades of campaigning Sanger saw a
federal ban on birth control lifted but
she continued in her quest to find
something better what she imagined as a
magic pill she was introduced to a
scientist Gregory Pincus who'd had
success preventing ovulation in rabbits
by testing the hormone progesterone with
the financial backing of another women's
rights campaigner Catherine McCormack
and a fertility expert called John Rock
of Pincus began developing a drug so
groundbreaking it would simply become
known as the pill its first iteration
was called enof it made by Gd sell the
company applied to the FDA for approval
and to avoid licensing problems the pill
was labeled as being for disturbances of
menstruation rather than birth control
on the 9th of May 1960 any of it was
made available to married American women
within two years 1.2 million women were
using it and it didn't take long for the
pill to catch on around the world
compared to other forms of contraception
the pill is discreet easy to use a much
more effective especially as the choice
was now in women's hands and men's
since the introduction of the pill the
number of unwanted pregnancies dropped
significantly as did the number of
infant and maternal deaths an economic
revolution was also in the making taking
the pill meant women could delay when
they had children dedicate time to an
education and a career without fear of
accidental pregnancy or having to commit
to a life of abstinence more women
started degrees and entered more
male-dominated courses like medicine law
and dentistry attended to have longer
periods of study a barrier to entry
previously for women expected to marry
and have children by the early 20s by
1972 the pill became available to all US
citizens and the numbers studying such
degrees grows rapidly this in turn led
to higher employment rates and better
careers the number of women in
management and professional occupations
also rose dramatically from nineteen
point nine percent in 1970 to 51 percent
in 2011 the pill also affected those who
weren't taking it as more and more were
empowered to focus on careers and delay
starting families the dynamics of
marriage changed with the average age of
women tying the knot starting to get
older
Margaret Sanger's relentless pursuit of
improving women's sexual rights also led
to unarguable economic benefits for the
United States it's estimated that for
every dollar invested in Family Planning
programs federal and state governments
save over seven dollars because of
unintended pregnancies that were
prevented and it's unlocked a lot of
earning power in 1965
twenty six point two million women were
in the US labor force by 2014 the number
had risen to 73 million achieving or
improving gender equality isn't as
simple as just introducing a
contraceptive drug despite earning more
college degrees than men for the last
thirty years women still remain
underrepresented at every level in
corporate America fully closing the
gender pay gap could increase total
female earnings by two trillion dollars
across the OECD so there's a long way to
go and plenty more to fight for
you
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you