At the Women Deliver 2010 conference, we will be hosting a full day symposium on “Technology: A Catalyst for Social Change.” The symposium is a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the US FDA approval of oral contraception, and more broadly the role technology has played in a social transformation of women’s lives.
This week, two great articles were published on the 50th anniversary of the pill. In Sarah Boseley’s Global Health Blog in the Guardian, she writes about the need for the revolution that has been going on in affluent countries to move to the developing world, where 200 million women need or want contraception. She quotes Jill Sheffield, president of Women Deliver who says:
“When a woman is able to manage her fertility, she is better able to manage her life and to realize her full potential as a human being. This has tremendous positive implications for her family, her community, and her country, and is a solid cost-effective solution to maternal deaths worldwide. The advent of the birth control pill in the US sparked a revolution. We must support the continuation of the revolution for women worldwide, by ensuring affordable access to contraceptives for all individuals.”
Another piece, published in the Times of India, talks about the profound impact the pill has had on women in the US who now have the freedom to choose when to have children and how many to have.
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