Endometrial cancer is the most common gynecologic cancer with 54,870 cases occurring in the United States in 2015 and causing 10,170 deaths, an 18.5% mortality rate (Elit and Reade, 2015). Ovarian cancer, while less common, is much more fatal. In 2015 in the United States, 21,290 cases occurred and resulted in 14,180 deaths, a 66.6% mortality rate. This mortality rate makes ovarian cancer the fifth most deadly cancer for women in the United States, which is largely explained by ineffective screening strategies and limited treatment possibilities (Cramer, 2012). Thus, developing effective prevention strategies is especially important to saving the lives of women who will develop ovarian or endometrial cancer. Women taking combined oral contraceptives (COCs), a type of hormonal birth control, have shown a significant reduced risk of developing ovarian and endometrial cancer. However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) does not currently recommend taking COCs for the prevention gynecologic cancer (CDC, 2014a). Since the efficacy of COCs for reducing risk of ovarian and endometrial cancer is well established, guidelines need to be determined for populations of women that should take hormonal birth control to minimize cancer risk. This paper highlights the current understanding of ovarian and endometrial cancer, populations of women at highest risk for developing either of these two cancers, and then proposes a case-control study to help determine which populations of women should take hormonal birth control to reduce their gynecologic cancer risk.

The diploma thesis is focused on the social aspects of women's oral hormonal contraception in the lives of two generations of women - daughters and their mothers. The theoretical part introduces the fundamental concepts of contraception research based on gender perspective. It also highlights the important historical milestones related to so-called birth control pill. Furthermore, the development of the contraceptive behavior of the Czech population since the 50s of the 20th century is analyzed. The empirical part of this thesis includes the description of methodology and the analysis of semi-structured interviews with ten women - mothers who were born in the 1960s and their daughters born around the turn of the 80s and 90s. The aim of the analysis is to discover how a generally accepted theory about contraception as the emancipation mechanism that helps women to control their own body and decide about their own reproduction is expressed in the lives of interviewed women. I ask the reason why, when and under what conditions these women decided to use birth control pills and the role of other circumstances in their decision-making. Moreover, I focus on the way how the birth control pills affect the relationship to own body and self-esteem of my respondents. And also, how birth control pills affect...