Yet Another Perk Of Gender Equality: It's Linked To Teen Use Of Birth Control

Rosemary Westwood
April 1, 2019

The first time I had to make a choice about birth control, I don’t remember factoring in society’s gender norms as I waded through my options: a ring, a shot, an IUD, a pill, or a condom (or, cringe, nothing?). But as it turns out, we are decidedly not alone when it comes to decisions around contraception. Researchers are increasingly finding that birth control is linked to a variety of factors beyond mere personal preference, and one much larger issue: the equality of the sexes.

A new study has shown that teens who live in more gender-equal societies are far more likely to use contraception. Among the study’s fascinating conclusions: Girls in more equitable societies were nearly 10 times more likely to report using the pill, twice as likely to report using condoms, and about six times as likely to report using both the last time they had intercourse, compared to girls in less equal societies. For boys, those figures were about six times, 1.5 times, and two times.

Continued: https://www.refinery29.com/en-ca/gender-equality-contraception-use-in-teens