This essay was previously posted on Daily Kos.

The birth control pill turns 50 this year.  In June, 1960 the Food and Drug Aministration (FDA) approved a pill containing estrogen and progesterone for use in the United States as a contraceptive method.  Currently more than 100 million women worldwide and 12 million women in the United States use this combined oral contraceptive (COC) as their preferred method of planning parenthood.

This diary offers background on the inception of this method and how it influenced the long-lasting inequality between women and men.