Sexual Education and Women Empowerment in Health: A Review of the Literature

Objectives: Women constitute almost 50% of the world population and play a number of roles in the community. The present study aimed to assess the relationship between sex education and women empowerment in health. Methods: Based on the aim of the study, the data were obtained reviewing the related literature on electronic and non-electronic websites and using equivalent keywords published until the last week of February 2018. In addition, mesh terms and key words were included in this research. Inclusion criteria were articles published from 2005 to February 2018. All the observation or interventional studies including ten articles which met the search criteria were studied. Results: The results revealed that sex education has different effects on sexual attitudes or activities of women. Further, it was effective in increasing the sexual autonomy of female college students. Furthermore, health providers' contribution may improve sexual autonomy. In the current study, sex education programs were effective at increasing HIV/AIDS (Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) knowledge and condom use, reducing the risk of unprotected intercourse and sexually transmitted infections (STIs), as well as unplanned pregnancy and abortion. Finally, abstinence-plus sex education programs increased health knowledge while they reduced risky sexual behaviors. Conclusions: In general, sex education is a critical method of women empowerment in health through increasing their health knowledge and related behaviors. Therefore, a compilation program of sex education is more useful. Accordingly, seeking to place sex training in the educational curriculum in accordance with the culture of the countries is a necessity.