There have always been intelligent, capable, ambitious, creative, and strong women. Their recent rise is not due to a magical increase in their capabilities. It is result of the world being less crazy, less abusive, less violent toward them… and, to varying degrees, everyone else.
That is why speaking of “women’s progress” is not the whole story. We should speak, for example, of “men’s progress” too. It takes courage for a girl in Afghanistan to go to school; but part of that courage might come from a father who is willing to rethink everything he was raised to believe. Initiatives like “He For She” is a recognition of feminism as a broad movement with collective benefits. This notion might seem like commonsense to many; just as most reasonable parents would agree that it is profoundly self destructive for a society to deny girls an education or access to healthcare.
Yet reproductive health remains contentious, even in the United States. It is, nonetheless, an extremely important issue for women. Supporting the agency of women, their freedom to make their own contraceptive and family planning decisions carries within it wide-ranging benefits. Data shows that when women have control of their reproductive health, everything from the environment to economic development, improves. As these benefits become evident, behavior evolves.
Free societies tend to grow stronger together because people can see one another clearly. They can have frank discussions. They recognize their freedoms exist because we collectively respect them. Only two decades ago, the mere mention of condoms might be thought of as inappropriate. Overcoming squeamishness, however, allowed for addressing things like AIDs and teenage pregnancy. Public health improves and more young people go to college. We all benefit.
Getting to the point where a woman expects her partner wear a condom - or even purchase one herself - requires more than being undeterred by stigma. It assumes a man that can listen and respect her choices. Then, we all win.
You can help protect the rights of girls and women everywhere by signing the petition in TAKE ACTION NOW.
Contributed by Jud Ireland, CEO of Naked Condoms.