‘Pad’-ucating for Change: Unveiling the Power of Sanitary Pads
Did you know that sanitary pads could change social norms and bridge the gender equity gap?
Almost 2bn of the world’s 8bn population menstruates. However, more than 25% of that population or a staggering 500mn women lack access to menstrual products, education, hygiene facilities and the infrastructure that is needed to have a safe, dignified, and comfortable period.
They suffer from what is called ‘period poverty’.
Not being able to manage periods has rippling effects on the life of a girl.
She misses opportunities for learning because she is unable to attend school.
She suffers from poor health because she uses low quality products or worse, unhygienic rags, newspapers, mud and even cow dung!
She forgoes opportunities for decent work because most workplaces don’t have the facilities she needs to manage her periods. For those who don’t have a choice but to work, many take contraceptives to stop menstruating so that they don’t have to deal with managing periods in inadequate toilet facilities because missing work means no salary.
She is subject to pre-teen sex, forced sex, transactional sex for pads, and unwanted pregnancies and poor reproductive health because she has no knowledge on these matters and how they are linked to menstruation.
And if this isn’t enough, the entire concept of periods is shrouded in fear and shame. There is an associated stigma that ostracizes women and excludes them from socializing and participating in everyday activities. These taboos play a big role in contributing to the social norms that portray girls as inferior to boys and fuel gender-based violence.
And because of what? A natural bodily function? A function that should instead be seen as a sign of health, life and vitality!
Shocking, isn’t it?
“Period poverty subjects women to social, economic, and cultural barriers. It attacks them from all possible directions, reducing their existence to almost nothing.
They lose their confidence, their voice, their place in society. They are snatched of their potential, their growth, their safety, and their every right as a human.”
Period poverty is such a systemic challenge that we cannot talk about achieving the Sustainable Development Goals of gender equality, equitable education, and inclusive economic growth without talking about menstrual health rights in the same breath.
So the immediate question that surfaces is, what can be done to address such an overwhelming problem?
But that is where we need to take a pause.
Before we even begin talking about solutions, we need to first acknowledge that there is a problem.
Menstruation is still considered an embarrassing secret. As a result, the topic of periods has not only escaped a discussion in the household but also in the world of policy development. For why would anyone talk about solving something that is not even considered a problem?
So the first step is to recognize that a problem exists. A problem that is as huge as it is in numbers as it is in severity.
The first notable move in this direction came in 2021, when the United Nations declared period poverty a human rights issue. Policy makers have now started putting menstruation on their agenda and there is a growing sense of awareness around the topic. And though we might be lightyears away from seeing significant change, at least the wheels have started spinning.
Following from this is a need for integration action.
While there are many initiatives trying to address the issue, their impact is not compounding at a scale that is needed to solve the problem. And the reason is their singular nature. These initiatives focus on addressing only one part of the problem. It’s either enabling access to pads or health education or sanitation or access to health services. This singular approach, reinforced by donors and investors who work in silos, proves ineffective when confronted with a complex multi-faceted problem.
What is needed is a multidimensional approach, that sees these interventions not as different singular approaches but as part of one solution and therefore combines them to effectively amplify impact and deliver meaningful change.
And that is what healthcare entrepreneur Megan Mukuria is doing.
In 2008, Megan founded ZanaAfrica in Kenya, with the objective of helping girls and women know, access, and actualize their full health rights starting with the right to menstrual health, through the provision of sanitary pads.
Her work is based on her unique insight into how a good quality, affordable pad is not just a menstrual product but a gateway to influence gender equity and change social norms. If combined with rights-based health information and access to health service providers, a sanitary pad could play a significant role in bridging the health and gender equity gap.
ZanaAfrica provides affordable, quality sanitary pads under the brand ‘Nia’ which means purpose. The pads also have health resources paired up with them in the form of access to health providers and a hotline where girls can ask and share about reproductive health in a safe environment.
But the real magic lies in how Zana has combined access to pads with developing a reproductive health curriculum that combines the best elements of existing health programs with a fresh infusion of gender awareness and empowerment.
This integrated approach is not only giving the girls the ability to have a dignified period but it is also amplifying reproductive health knowledge and producing a profound shift in social and gender norms.
Girls are now more confident during menstruation. They are understanding their own bodies and how they can make the right decisions for themselves. They are realizing their worth, opening conversations on age old taboos and gender biases and understanding social norms in a new way.
As Megan puts it…
“The girls are quick moving from ‘girls can play sports during their period’ to ‘its not okay for my dad to beat my mom’. And that doesn’t change back.”
And that is not all!
The curriculum is also impacting boys. After going through the programs, boys are emerging as advocates for gender equity, challenging traditional perceptions of household roles.
That, is the power of a sanitary pad. It is not just a menstrual hygiene product but a tool for education and a catalyst for change.
And if there is one poignant interaction that encapsulates the essence of these transformative changes, it is this. Megan once asked a young girl in Kenya about how she would feel if presented with a year's supply of sanitary pads. Her answer was..
"I would feel like the whole world loved me."
More About Megan
In 2001, Megan came to Kenya with a one-way ticket to work on a project with street children. The next 5 years was a period of startling discoveries and realizations. The children she worked with had no idea about their rights, relationships, safety and choice and were being subject to violence, early sex, teen pregnancies to disease and even
death.
The impact on girls, in particular, was even more severe. And the onset of puberty was was a starting point of this downward spiral.
4 in 5 girls in East Africa don’t have access to even a sanitary pad to manage their period. This has far reaching repercussions and impacts not only their health but also their education, career and place in society.
Megan wanted to create an organization that could help these girls not only manage their periods safely but to break free from the trauma, taboo and bias that came with it. She founded ZanaAfrica in 2007 to expand access to sanitary pads and reproductive health education among marginalized adolescent girls.
ZanaAfrica’s approach has been delivering results. Their Nia pads have reached more than 140,000 women and are expected to reach 1.2 million in the next 5 years. The reproductive health curriculum is going to reach 250,000 teens this year. With the curriculum now being adopted by the government, it is expected to reach more than 12 million youth by 2026.
Megan is an Ashoka Fellow, Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the Girl Effect Accelerator and was a GOOD Pioneer of Health for Africa Fellow. She was featured in Fast Company’s League of Extraordinary Women in 2012 along with Oprah, Hillary Clinton and Melinda Gates. Watch Megan here as she explains how her integrated approach in solving the problem of period poverty is amplifying outcomes for reproductive health knowledge and gender norms.
