By Cat Pritchard
There’s a largely shared belief in sustainable development that if you empower women, you empower an entire community. Because, let’s face it, women are most often the threads that bind; without them entire communities would unravel and pretty quickly.
So a big feminine curtsey to those community initiatives, from job creation to housing and every bakery in between, which do look to women as key to having real impact on the ground.
But there is one critical female need that is not generally addressed or often talked about – at least not in the mainstream media. It has to do with an important 28-day cycle that all women are bound to, some in more ways than you can imagine.
In sub-Saharan Africa, millions of girls are unable to afford sanitary pads, and of course, don’t have access to adequate sanitation. The solution for these future leaders is pretty much a Catch 22 – either use unhygienic rags, mud and bark and risk serious infection or resort to sex work to raise the money for said sanitary pads and risk contracting sexually transmitted infections (STIs).
And here’s some scary facts – according to SHE (sustainable Health Enterprises), 50 days of school or work are missed by girls and women who don't have access to sanitary pads, or can't afford, while UNICEF estimates one in 10 school-age African girls either skips school during their period or drops out entirely because of a lack of sanitation.
And don’t expect to see a Marion Jones or Serena Williams to come out of Africa anytime soon. What girl is able to or even wants to play sports under those circumstances, I ask you.
Now that sounds like a vicious cycle if ever I heard one.
Fortunately for Rwanda, SHE has set up a social enterprise to tackle such important health issues. Its first franchise was launched in Rwanda earlier this year, and is operated by women who manufacture and distribute low-cost sanitary pads. The pads are made of locally sourced raw materials such as banana fibre, which stimulates the local economy and keeps costs down. To help future ventures get off the ground, microfinance loans will be offered to women starting up new branches. Training in business skills, health and hygiene will also be available.
I’ve heard of a few other initiatives that either create or distribute free sanitary pads….
• The Watoto Wa Baraka’s Sanitary Pad Programme is one, Let’s Play is another.
• In 2007 FemCare, the Procter & Gamble unit that makes Always pads and Tampax tampons, started “Protecting Futures” – a programme that donates Always disposable sanitary pads to girls in southern Africa in hopes of keeping African girls in school.
And yes, I’m sure there are many more initiatives and that many were started by foreign volunteers or companies. (Old gripe – do we always have to rely on the foreigners to sort out our essential issues? Not good enough Africa.)
The thing is, it’s not just a problem affecting the rural masses, mind you. I know many urban women on minimum wage who use rags and cloth every month. I can only hope their sanitation at home is a whole site better.
As a woman of independent means, I find the prices on sanitary pads and tampons in stores ridiculous. Why aren’t they subsidised anyway? These are the future mothers of your children and our president.
Because, believe me, with the cost of living and food inflation what it is, how many more women do you think will be cutting back on this “critical non-essentials?” in order to feed and clothe their families. Would all the women we have in parliament and local government please speak up and would every man who has a mother or sister, please step up to the podium.
Just an idea.