Although the lives of Radcliffe women might not have been strongly affected by the pill during college, the birth control pill did eventually have an impact on their lives.

After meeting her husband, Moore says her physician had prescribed her with a diaphragm as a birth control mechanism.

But because the diaphragm was ineffective, she became pregnant with her first child, Eric, within six months of her marriage.

“He came along because I didn’t go on the pill,” she says.

After the birth of her son in 1965, Moore switched to the pill as her birth control mechanism of choice.

MOVE TO EQUALITY

In the 1960s, the movement towards gender equality gained momentum, spurred by the independence offered to women with the advent of the pill.

“I think [the pill] was an important step in women’s movement in making them independent and equal,” Croll says.

The pill spurred the female push for equality by heightening gender differences, Matz adds.

It was this same movement that would ultimately have significant consequences for the structure of Harvard as a University.

In 1977, Harvard and Radcliffe became one entity after the two schools signed an agreement that placed undergraduate women entirely in Harvard College.

Around the same time, the FDA reported that 10.7 million American women were on the pill.

Today, the prevalence of the pill is still widespread, including on Harvard’s campus.

David S. Rosenthal ’59, the director of University Health Services, says that many students come to campus already taking birth control pills and that UHS will facilitate these prescriptions being refilled. For students who wish to begin taking contraception in college, Rosenthal says they are able make an appointment with a clinician to discuss options.

The pill’s wide use can be attributed largely to its effectiveness. Fewer than 1 out of 100 women get pregnant each year if they always take the pill each day as directed, while about 9 out of 100 women get pregnant each year if they do not always take the pill each day as directed.

Despite the enormous changes of the last 50 years since the pill’s approval, Abby P. Sun ’13—former president of the female advocacy group Radcliffe Union of Students—says the fight for gender equality is ongoing.

“Something that we still have to contend with is that birth control and parenthood is thought to be the responsibility of women,” Sun says. “It should be among all parties involved.”

—Staff writer Jane Seo can be reached at janeseo@college.harvard.edu.