Rethinking A Woman’s Right to Menstrual Hygiene
By Emily O’Connor
“The greatest return comes from investing in girls and women. When they are educated, they drive development in their families, communities and nations.”[i] In 2013 when UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon made this statement he was acknowledging the powerful role women play in the advancement of human rights and the eradication of poverty worldwide. When a young girl is forced to stop attending school or a young woman is unable to work because she lacks access to proper healthcare and sanitation, her whole community suffers. Insufficient access to basic menstrual hygiene products keeps women trapped in a cycle of poverty, stigmatization, and inequality. It is time to rethink how we address this issue.
Matt Michaelson is a senior studying Business at Northeastern University. Matt’s coursework, however, looks a little bit different than most of his classmates; on top of studying for midterms and writing papers, Matt is working full-time to change the world of women’s health.
In the Spring of 2014, Matt decided to co-op for a New York based start-up called THINX, a for-profit company dedicated to changing the dialogue around women’s issues and empowering women worldwide to have access to quality and socially conscious hygiene products. THINX sells a line of stain and leak resistant underwear for women. Using a patented four-layer anti-bacterial technology, its product is well-designed, innovative, and frankly, necessary. Furthermore, for every pair of underwear sold, the company provides the funds for a young woman in East Africa to be equipped with 7 reusable sanitary pads.
Menstrual hygiene is important issue to women around the globe, but for young women in the developing world it can be life-changing. Lack of access to proper sanitary products can prevent girls from attending school, gaining sustainable employment, and having a healthy quality of life. THINX is out to change that by partnering with a project in Uganda called AFRIpads, who manufacture and distribute cost-effective cloth sanitary pads. When a woman, anywhere in the world, buys a pair of period-resistant underwear, THINX funds 7 AFRIpads. AFRIpads’ mission is “to empower women and girls through business, innovation and opportunity” by employing women locally in rural Uganda to manufacture the pads for their communities and by providing training and education on menstrual hygiene. Their model allows women to advance their education and economic sustainability as well as have access to one of life’s most basic human rights: sanitation.
After co-oping for 6 months and assisting with the start-up’s operations, Matt decided to continue to work with THINX and for a semester he commuted back and forth from Boston to New York working and attending school. Matt now lives in New York, working fulltime for the socially conscious underwear company and taking Northeastern classes online. The dedicated young entrepreneur and student works as the company’s Digital Marketing Strategist by helping to promote the company’s product and more importantly, the company’s mission to change the dialogue around women’s rights and feminine hygiene.
THINX’s products are not only made for women but are also made by women. THINX sources their line of beautifully designed products from a small family-owned factory in Sri Lanka which empowers local women by providing sustainable employment and supplementary education. As the company grows and develops their business model, they seek to be an inspiring voice in the conversation surrounding women’s empowerment and to work toward getting to the point when, in the words of the Northeastern senior, “being a woman doesn’t hold you back.”
For more information on THINX and to help break the taboo around women’s hygiene visit www.shethinx.com
[i]http://www.un.org/sg/statements/index.asp?nid=6746
