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Do you know female condoms exist? NO
Have you seen one before? NO
Do you know how it is used? NO
These are the questions I asked a 23 year-old sexually active female.
The issue of female condoms not being available and accessible in Nigeria is one that I believe should be addressed. In Nigeria, female condoms don't exist except in NGOs that are involved in SRH-related programs, and usually they only have samples for people to see what it looks like. Just last week, I heard that free female condoms were being distributed in Washington DC- isn't that beautiful? I wish we could have that here in Nigeria.
In my opinion, apart from the fact that female condoms are safer than male condoms, having them available will help to empower Nigerian women. They can have the option of protecting themselves even if the man doesn't want to use a condom. Statistics show that unprotected sex is the leading cause of new HIV infections and other STIs. Women are the most infected and affected. Could it be that if women are empowered, they can protect themselves from HIV, STIs, and unintended pregnancy? In some parts of Nigeria, sex has become a cultural thing in that women don't have a say in choosing how they want to have sex; the man decides whether to use a condom or not. Culture demands that the woman is expected to make herself available whether she feels like it or not.
Cultural belief is one of the reasons why women are the most marginalized group. Culture says that women should sit at home and take care of the home; culture says that women don’t have a say in how they want to have sex, either with or without a condom; culture also says that girls don’t need to go to school. All these are realities in Nigeria, particularly at the grassroots level, which most of us don’t get to see or experience.
It’s important to highlight the need to make female condoms available as an undeniable option to women; it might just be the solution to reducing the rate at which women are being infected and affected when it comes to SRH.
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