Melinda Gates Pens a Powerful Essay on Why All Women Should Have Access to Contraceptives

During a time when many women feel like their reproductive rights are in limbo, Melinda Gates, co-founder of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, says the benefits of giving women direct access to birth control is evident. "In communities where women have access to contraceptives, children stay in school longer, and entire families are healthier, wealthier and far better equipped to break the cycle of poverty," Gates wrote in a recent op-ed for National Geographic.

After pledging to get 120 million women access to birth control in 2012, Gates traveled to a village named Kamrawa in India last year and saw first-hand how imperative it is for all women to have a say in their own family planning. In her op-ed, Gates recalled how much of a burden parenting was for a 40-something-year-old woman named Anita who was raising five children with no source of income.

"She spent all of her time and energy looking after her family and trying to keep her household running — preparing food, tending to animals, keeping things clean in a house with no running water — leaving almost no time at all for her to do anything else," she wrote, adding, "It was a life of deprivation, hard work and endless worrying."

Sushila, a 28-year-old teacher Melinda also met in Kamrawa, told Gates she uses birth control in order to limit the size of her family and ensure she is able to provide financially for them. "Sushila also told me that as soon as both her kids are in school, she plans to return to her job as a teacher," Gates shared. "A generation ago, working moms were almost unheard of in villages like Kamrawa. But now that women have the option to plan their pregnancies, they have many other options, too."

Fortunately, things have changed since her last visit to Kamrawa. For one, women are now able to get contraceptives, which has empowered them in more ways than ever before. "As a result, families are smaller, and parents are better able to afford nutritious food and school fees for all of their kids. The whole village is healthier and more prosperous," Gates explained.

She concluded, "In 2012, we made a promise to women around the world. Our actions over the next three years will decide whether we keep it." Head to National Geographic to read the full op-ed.