Each woman has two ovaries. They lie deep within the pelvis, one on each side of the uterus (womb).

Each ovary is linked to the uterus by a fallopian tube.

The ovaries do two main jobs:

• they make the hormones oestrogen and progesterone, which help to control your periods
  
   
• they store your eggs (ova). Each month, from puberty to the menopause, one of the ovaries releases an egg, which travels down the fallopian tube to the uterus. There, it may be fertilised by male sperm and grow into a baby.