The oral contraceptive pill was first made available in the US in May 1960. The contraceptive pill for the first time gave women control over their own fertility and marked the beginning of a period of huge social and economic change. By 2009, 100 million women worldwide use the pill, including 202,000 women in New Zealand. Taken properly, the pill provides 99% effective protection against pregnancy and is an easily reversible method of contraception. In the December 2009 issue of Family Planning newsletter Forum, former family planning doctor Margaret Sparrow - one of the first women in New Zealand to use the pill - describes its effects in those early years. “The pill became the most effective, reversible method of birth control, promising for the first time virtual freedom from unwanted pregnancy. Use of the pill was followed by higher college attendance and graduation of female students, bringing about a whole new era of women’s contribution to the Western economy,” she says. For the first time, the bond between sex and reproduction had been reliably broken, rocking the traditional gender roles in the process.