Exploring Female Condom's Role in Women's Empowerment: A Reflection

This report examines the female condom as a tool for women's empowerment, utilizing Gibb's reflection cycle to analyze its impact within healthcare. The student reflects on their experiences, discussing the challenges of promoting female condom use, particularly within African cultural contexts. The report details the benefits of female condoms in preventing STIs, promoting sexual health, and fostering gender equality. It also addresses the negative experiences, such as the cost, potential for misuse, and cultural barriers influencing the use of the device. Through the analysis, the report highlights the importance of reforming cultural beliefs, ethical practices and providing comprehensive training to empower women to make informed decisions about their sexual health. The report concludes by emphasizing the need for further research and community-based initiatives to optimize the use of female condoms for women's empowerment and improved health outcomes.

Running head: SOCIAL CARE
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1
SOCIAL CARE
Introduction:
Gender discrimination limits women to gain access to financial, political, social domain,
resulted in lack of empowerment of women worldwide. Empowering women by reducing gender
discrimination improves the health of women, their family and promote economic development.
Empowerment is viewed as a process or outcome (Bekker et al. 2015). Considering the broad
concept of empowerment, it is a process by which individuals gain the power of self. While
women’s empowerment is a critical aspect of achieving gender equality, a significant number of
women lack empowerment. Considering the concept of empowerment, the female condom has
an empowering effect on women who are trained to use the device. The acceptance of female
condom in high economic countries indicated a need for breaching the barriers of culture and
empowering women to reduce the high rate of sexually transmitted disease (Mantell et al. 2015).
The female condom has been available in higher economic countries and it launched in
developing countries in 2000. As discussed by Schuyler et al. (2016) female condom is an
effective form of contraception and the correct use of condom has a failure rate of 5%. However,
the existence of cultural and social beliefs in lower economic countries significantly influenced
the massive number of women and they hesitated to use a condom, indicating the need of
empowering them. The purpose of the paper is to reflect on how the concept of female condom
uses a tool of empowerment for women with the assistance of Gibb’s reflection cycle. This paper
will discuss six part of Gibb's reflection cycle, focusing on the female condom as an
empowerment tool, in the following paragraph.

2
SOCIAL CARE
Description:
The utilization of female condom remains inadequate in women across the world,
especially Africa which further contributed to an increase of morbidity rate. The worldwide
prevalence of sexually transmitted disease amongst female is 17% and 8 out of every 10 women
with HIV infection have unprotected sex with an infected male partner (Bernard et al. 2017).
About 2.9 million people living with HIV and women’s biological vulnerability is four times
higher as compared to men (Workowski and Bolan 2015). Inadequate use of female condom
contributed to the high rate of sexually transmitted disease which further resulted in disruption of
quality of life of women, their family (Newman et al. 2015). Considering the perspective of
social and health care, evidence showed that it reduces the incidents of sexually transmitted
disease and thus have higher acceptability in high economic countries because of diverse of
advantages offered by the device. However, as a health and social care professional, when I was
introduced to the concept of female condom I was confused regarding the role of female condom
and how it contributed to women empowerment. I failed to empower a considerate number of
women by providing training regarding the use of a female condom. Moreover, during my
clinical practice, I have observed that significant number of women hold a negative attitude
towards utilization and often discourage the use of a condom because of apprehension and
cultural beliefs, made it difficult for me to empower women. The sexual discrimination and
gender imbalance integrated into social norms are the highest contributors to lack of
empowerment in women. Hence, an increase in sexually transmitted disease and other chronic
illness observed around the globe.

3
SOCIAL CARE
Feeling:
This section of the reflective cycle will discuss the feeling regarding being an African and
perception of African women about the female condom. As an African woman, I felt nervous,
confused and apprehensive regarding the use of a female condom when the concept of the female
condom was introduced to me. I was not aware of the use of the female condom and I have
inadequate knowledge which affected my clinical practice. Hence, I felt confused and
apprehensive. Although significant number of cultures, race and ethnicity, especially the cultures
exists in high economic countries, has accepted the use of female condom and empowered
themselves through continuous use of a condom, African culture failed to accept this concept
completely which further affected my clinical practice. While western culture revolves around
individualism, African culture has the ‘Ubuntu Social Philosophy, there are no single values. A
set of rules is applied to all concepts of society. Consequently, just like any other women of
Africa I felt confused regarding the role of the female when I was first introduced to the concept
and failed to understand how it will be used to empower women and boost their self-confidence
regarding sexual health. Our African culture forbids us from touching genitals which created
initial hesitation of gaining knowledge regarding the use of a female condom (Gollub 2000).
Moreover, African culture and traditional practices promote that offspring or process of
childbirth is the divine gift and condom hinders the process of giving birth (Gollub 2000).
Therefore, as discussed before, as a health and social care professional, I became confused
regarding the use of condom and it was difficult for me to engage women in using the device in
order to promote empowerment amongst women.

4
SOCIAL CARE
Evaluation:
This part of Gibb’s reflection cycle will discuss the good and bad about the experienced
gained during the clinical practice. Considering the optimistic experience, I was unaware of the
concept of the female condom and the specific role which I gained when I was first introduced to
the female condom as health professionals. However, after the introduction to the female
condom I gain immense knowledge regarding it. I came to know that female condom is a device
which protects both the partners from sexually transmitted disease including HIV infection. In
addition, I gained knowledge that it protects vagina from the wart virus and herpes transmission,
as it confers greater protection to the vulva base of the male genital compared to the male
condom. It offers advantages in terms of sensitivity towards sexual pleasure for the women,
giving protection to the vagina as well as vulva to the extent of the cervix (Bowling et al. 2018).
It successfully reduces the rate of unwanted pregnancy and abortion. Hence, I understood that it
can be used as a potential empowerment tool in health and social care practice for the
development of the sexual confidence of women and autonomy, promoting empowerment. I
gained the knowledge that these advantages of using female condom open up the probability of
greater gender equality in the sexual relationship between male and female. It increases the
sense of ownership of women over their bodies and their sexuality. Therefore, I will use this
device as an empowerment tool to empower women regarding their sexual health. However, the
negative experience I have gained from the incidence is that on a research level, more research
data would be required not only regarding the protection against sexually transmitted disease but
also regarding the client training of minimizing error during utilization. From the perspective of
health and social care professionals, after exploring the concept I gain the knowledge that the
device has some disadvantages such as condom may slip into the vagina during intercourse if the

5
SOCIAL CARE
user is unaware of correct use of the device. Moreover, the outer ring of the female condom may
irritate the vagina or vulva (Schuyler et al. 2016). Some of the researchers also argued that the
pleasure of intercourse can be reduced or become it is noisy, indicating the need for use of
lubricant (Martin et al. 2016). Individuals are required to practice it many times to master the
correct use of the device. Apart from the disadvantages of the device, I gain the knowledge that
the device is highly expensive to use which further reduces the acceptability of the device.
Moreover, cultural norms, values, and beliefs influenced the thought process and their decision
making regarding sexual health (Mome et al. 2018). A fair degree of skepticism exists in the
culture and traditional practice which further influenced the negative attitude of women,
hindering the engagement with the tool for the development of self-confidence and
empowerment (Mome et al. 2018).. Even as a health professional, I was confused about the use
of the condom which affected my professional practice. I failed to engage the women in the
utilization of the tool to promote empowerment in women and reduce gender discrimination.
This further affected my professional practice as a health and social care practice.
Analysis:
From a decade, women are the victim of gender inequality, sexual discrimination and it
has a far-reaching influence on personal decision making of women. Although taking the
decision for themselves is the rights of every human, women have limited rights of taking the
decision for themselves, especially for their sexual health (Kleven and Landais 2017). While
women’s empowerment is a critical aspect of archiving gender equality, the significant number
of women lacks the empowerment because of the experience of gender inequality and sexual
discrimination they were subjected to (Kleven and Landais 2017). In the society, the gender role
defined as a social role composed of a range of behavior, attitude which is generally acceptable

6
SOCIAL CARE
and desirable for the people based on their perceived sex. The sexual discrimination initiated
when male species were provided with the hierarchy of conducting every action in the society,
even limiting the behavior and attitude of women (Kim et al. 2018). The hierarchy provided to
the extent where men have the privilege of dominating women in sexual pleasure. This practice
integrated with society in such a way that every member of the society started considering it as a
social norm. Consequently, the inability to gain access to a certain domain of society and
making the decision for themselves leads to lack of empowerment in women in society. The
introduction of the female condom as an empowerment tool change sex dynamics, boost the self-
esteem of women and provide an opportunity to contribute to safe sex and reduction of sexually
transmitted disease (Gollub 2000). Introduction of female condom supports the Freda theory of
feminism. Theory of feminism provides an analysis of women’s subordination for the purpose
of examining how to change it. This theory includes the nature of inequality and social
construction of sex and gender as discussed above (Selman and Dunn 2017). Therefore, it
provided the opportunity for women to take ownership of their life, their sexual health. As
discussed by Tsevat et al. (2017), women are at higher risk of sexually transmitted disease such
as HIV infection, gonorrhea, chlamydia, and other associated diseases. However, inadequate
literacy regarding sexual health and safe sex, a considerate number of women was unaware of
the concept of the female condom. As a health and social care professionals, I was unaware of
the use of female condom and therefore, I was confused about the use of the female condom and
it was difficult for me to engage the women to empower them. After encountering the situation, I
have learned that I need to reform my beliefs which are influenced by African culture. African
culture has the Ubuntu social philosophy where a person is only a person because of others.
While in western culture, individualism is a social norm, in African culture family unit often

7
SOCIAL CARE
seen as a decision making entity (Gollub 2000). Hence, as a health professional in western
culture, these cultural beliefs influenced my professional practice. After gaining knowledge
regarding female condom, I learned that I would require to reform my cultural beliefs and values
to promote empowerment by providing training to the women. As discussed by Snelling (2016),
UK code of ethics suggested that there are certain principles that guided health professional to
the ethical practice such as act in the patient’s best interests respect the patient’s autonomy. I
have learned that to promote the empowerment in women I would require to reform my beliefs
as a health professional so that I can engage women into the use of a female condom. It would
provide an opportunity to reduce the sexually transmitted disease, change the sex dynamics,
power relationship, boost the self-confidence, and take the ownership of their life and negotiate
in the safe sex practice.
Conclusion:
On a concluding note, it can be concluded that female condom has an empowering effect
on women who are trained to use the device. Evidence showed that it reduces the incidents of
sexually transmitted disease and thus have higher acceptability in high economic countries
because of diverse advantages offered by the device and contribution in empowering women. It
protects both the partners from sexually transmitted disease including HIV infection. However,
cultural proscriptions against touching the genitals may create initial hesitancy in trying this
method. The introduction of female condom as an empowerment tool change sex dynamics,
boost the self-esteem of women and provide an opportunity to contribute in safe sex reduction of
sexually transmitted disease Because of high sexual discrimination and gender inequality, they
have negative belief towards the use of the condom, highlighting lack of empowerment. Since
empowerment is critical for reducing gender equality, providing training regarding the utilization

8
SOCIAL CARE
of female condom can be used as effective to empower individuals. Because of cultural beliefs, I
was unaware of the use of female condom and felt confused regarding how to involve women in
the utilization of condom for safe sex practice. After encountering the situation, I learned that I
would require to reform my beliefs regarding the use of a condom to provide culturally
competent service. In this case, it is recommended to design community-based interventions
and health promotions to empower women. It recommended amending policies for the sex
workers to use the condom and policies for reducing the cost of the condom. It is also
recommended to provide numerous education session for the correct use of a condom.
Action plan:
In order to empower women to take the ownership of life, the action plan would require
is to reform my attitude and beliefs regarding sexual health and female condom so that I can
provide culturally competent service to the women and provide training to mastering the
utilization of female condom. To empower women, I would provide a counseling session to gain
the understanding of the negative beliefs of the women who seek services and provide education
regarding the use of a female condom by following the legislation Sexual Health Services Act
(2016). I would propose a policy that every sex worker should use a female condom while
involving in sexual practice to reduce sexually transmitted disease. I would take a community-
based intervention to promote wellbeing and empower women. In the community intervention, I
would develop health promotion and campaign regarding the sexual health of the women. In the
campaign, I would take educational approach regarding the advantages of the female condom
using video, audio, brochure and anatomic so that the women reform the cultural beliefs and
release stigmatized behavior. I would encourage peer support to promote empowerment since it

9
SOCIAL CARE
is a powerful mechanism to change group norms, especially for the women who have a reason
for feeling stigmatized to face health professionals. I would propose the policy for reducing the
cost of the female condom and make it available for every woman so that they can use it. It will
reduce the sexually transmitted disease, provide women an opportunity to take ownership of the
sexual practice, empower them and reduce gender inequality.

10
SOCIAL CARE
References:
Bernard, M.M.J., Simon, I.K., Charles, M.M., Charles, K.M., Ghislain, M.N., Albert, M.A.,
Benjamin, K.I. and Prosper, K.K., 2017. Evaluation of female condom use among students at the
university of Lubumbashi: Knowledge, attitude and practice on university cities. Open Access
Library Journal, 4(11), p.1.
Bowling, J., Dodge, B., Bindra, N., Dave, B., Sharma, R., Sundarraman, V., Thirupathur
Dharuman, S. and Herbenick, D., 2018. Female condom acceptability in urban India: Examining
the role of sexual pleasure. Journal of health psychology, 23(2), pp.218-228.
Gollub, E.L., 2000. The female condom: tool for women's empowerment. American Journal of
Public Health, 90(9), p.1377.
Kim, J.Y., Fitzsimons, G.M. and Kay, A.C., 2018. Lean in messages increase attributions of
women’s responsibility for gender inequality. Journal of personality and social
psychology, 115(6), p.974.
Kleven, H. and Landais, C., 2017. Gender inequality and economic development: fertility,
education and norms. Economica, 84(334), pp.180-209.
Martin, J., de Lora, P., Rochat, R. and Andes, K.L., 2016. Understanding female condom use
and negotiation among young women in Cape Town, South Africa. International perspectives on
sexual and reproductive health, 42(1), pp.13-20.
Mome, R.K., Wiyeh, A.B., Kongnyuy, E.J. and Wiysonge, C.S., 2018. Effectiveness of female
condom in preventing HIV and sexually transmitted infections: a systematic review
protocol. BMJ open, 8(8), p.e023055.

11
SOCIAL CARE
Newman, L., Rowley, J., Vander Hoorn, S., Wijesooriya, N.S., Unemo, M., Low, N., Stevens,
G., Gottlieb, S., Kiarie, J. and Temmerman, M., 2015. Global estimates of the prevalence and
incidence of four curable sexually transmitted infections in 2012 based on systematic review and
global reporting. PloS one, 10(12), p.e0143304.
Schuyler, A.C., Masvawure, T.B., Smit, J.A., Beksinska, M., Mabude, Z., Ngoloyi, C. and
Mantell, J.E., 2016. Building young women’s knowledge and skills in female condom use:
lessons learned from a South African intervention. Health education research, 31(2), pp.260-
272.
Selman, K.J. and Dunn, M., 2017. Western Feminist Criminologies: Critiquing “Malestream”
Criminology and Beyond. The Handbook of the History and Philosophy of Criminology, pp.255-
271.
Snelling, P.C., 2016. The metaethics of nursing codes of ethics and conduct. Nursing
Philosophy, 17(4), pp.229-249.
Tsevat, D.G., Wiesenfeld, H.C., Parks, C. and Peipert, J.F., 2017. Sexually transmitted diseases
and infertility. American journal of obstetrics and gynecology, 216(1), pp.1-9.
Workowski, K.A. and Bolan, G.A., 2015. Sexually transmitted diseases treatment guidelines,
2015. MMWR. Recommendations and reports: Morbidity and mortality weekly report.
Recommendations and reports, 64(RR-03), p.1.
Bekker, L.G., Johnson, L., Cowan, F., Overs, C., Besada, D., Hillier, S. and Cates Jr, W., 2015.
Combination HIV prevention for female sex workers: what is the evidence?. The
Lancet, 385(9962), pp.72-87.

12
SOCIAL CARE
Mantell, J.E., Smit, J.A., Exner, T.M., Mabude, Z., Hoffman, S., Beksinska, M., Kelvin, E.A.,
Ngoloyi, C., Leu, C.S. and Stein, Z.A., 2015. Promoting female condom use among female
university students in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa: results of a randomized behavioral
trial. AIDS and Behavior, 19(7), pp.1129-1140.