The ovaries are part of your reproductive system. This is in the lower part of your tummy, in the area between your hips (called the pelvis). Your reproductive system is made up of body parts like your vagina and the organs involved in getting pregnant and carrying a baby.
Your reproductive system is made up of the:
- vagina (the tube from the cervix to outside your body)
- womb (where a baby grows during pregnancy)
- cervix (the opening from the womb to the vagina)
- fallopian tubes (that connect your ovaries to the womb)
- ovaries (that release an egg every month after puberty)
facts about your ovaries…
- You have two (one on each side of your womb), and they’re both about 4cm long.
- At puberty your ovaries start making hormones (oestrogen and progesterone), which cause your breasts to grow and your periods to start.
- Every month (after puberty) your ovaries release an egg, which travels down the fallopian tubes to the womb. The womb’s lining gets thicker, ready for an egg to be fertilised by a man’s sperm. If this doesn’t happen, the womb’s lining comes out of your vagina as blood - this is a period.
- When she's about 50 a woman’s periods stop (called the menopause), because her ovaries have finished making hormones.
