Meet Two Teens Who Are Fighting for Equality With Menstrual Pads
Getting your period sucks no matter who you are—but if you're a homeless woman in the U.S. who doesn't have money for tampons or pads, or a woman in prison with a limited supply of them, or a low-income girl whose family can't afford the expense, your period isn't just inconvenient, it's devastating. That idea is the essence of the burgeoning menstrual equity movement, which argues that until disadvantaged women and girls have access to the tampons and pads they need to make it through their periods with dignity, we can't have true equality.
In developing countries around the world, menstrual pads are out of reach for many women and girls, who often resort to things like ash and rags to stop the flow. Where Dorcus and Esther come from, a lot of girls use banana fibers, which aren't exactly hygienic. Plus, Dorcus says, "They don't really work."
Dorcus, age 14, and Esther, age 11, live in a rural part of Uganda with their parents and siblings, in houses made of mud and sticks. They go to a special school called Arlington Academy of Hope, where their education is funded by the nonprofit She's The First (a partner of Glamour's The Girl Project). At Arlington, Dorcus and Esther take computer class, play on a playground, use a well-stocked library, and have access to menstrual products—which sets them apart from their own brothers and sisters, and most people in their community.
Some experts say that girls who don't have access to sanitary products actually miss school when they're on their periods—which might even lead to them drop out of school eventually. That didn't sit well with Dorcus and Esther. "We want to enable girls to get to school because we want to see a change in our community," Dorcus says. "If girls don't go to school then there will be no change but when we encourage girls not to be absent from school because of this little thing, menstruation, periods, then we'll bring a change in our community."
Dorcus and Esther decided to do something. They convened a group of students and staff at their school to brainstorm ideas for how they could help, and came up with a plan: community workshops to teach girls and women how to make their own reusable pads—cheaper than pads you buy in town, and safer and more hygienic than banana tree fibers. To raise money for supplies, Dorcus and Esther made jewelry and sold it in their communities.
They held the workshops with girls at their own school, at other schools in the region, and at open community workshops. Dorcus and Esther's big idea was that if they could teach 10 girls to make reusable pads, each of those girls can go back to their own communities and teach another 10 girls, and on and on until the practice spreads throughout Uganda. The pads are made with a simple pattern and plain fabric (Esther and Dorcus like to use red), sewn by hand, with a slot for an absorbent towel that can be removed and washed. It's designed to be so simple and cheap to make that anyone can do it.
In the last two years, 24 states have introduced legislation to repeal the sales tax on tampons, and a handful have actually approved it. New York City decided to provide free menstrual products to women and girls in its schools, prisons, and homeless shelters. Federal prisons started supplying women with free menstrual products. One nonprofit, Plan International, started lobbying the Unicode Consortium for a period emoji. But around the world, there are still women and girls who are living without access to the menstrual products they need, and we shouldn't give up the fight until the menstrual equity movement has reached them, too. Dorcus and Esther are doing their part in Uganda, but they want people in the United States to know that they can also help. "I want them to know that they can do something to help other people," Dorcus says. Esther added, "They can help more people than they think."
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