The Inspiring Sanitary Napkins Project

With many issues in the world, COVID-19 is the main one that has truly impacted and changed the world as a whole. As this virus quickly spreads around the globe, millions of individuals are being negatively affected, with a shortage of resources and people to help the community and bring about a change.  Hence we started a sanitary napkin drive in hopes of bringing a community of women together and work towards making sanitary napkins available for those who may not have easy access, especially during this pandemic. By taking this initiative, we want to bring awareness to this topic and inspire others to contribute as well.

Around the world, millions of women suffer because they are not able to meet their need for sanitary products. According to PennNursing: University of Pennsylvania, a 2019 study confirmed that two-thirds of the women surveyed did not have access to sanitary napkins in the past year. Furthermore, one-fifth of the women were unable to afford sanitary products on a monthly basis.  Numerous areas around the globe are uninformed about women’s hygiene. Therefore, little is done to address this problem or even to solve it. According to Hindawi, there is a concept that menstruation is “dirty” or “polluting,” which hinders individuals from educating themselves and others about the topic’s significance. By organizing this donation drive, we hoped to normalize menstruation and express its naturality. 

Credit: Statista

Amika George, an activist for period poverty, tweeted, “pads are essential for women, like food. Why does the government ignore our requirement? Coronavirus sparked a #periodpoverty crisis in India, with schoolgirls usually dependent on govt supplies now having to go without. Globally this must be addressed.”  The scarcity of hygienic products is negatively impacting women and should be addressed. 

Credit: Global Giving

For this donation drive, our goal was to collect new, packaged sanitary napkins and donate them to NuDay Syria, an organization that helps women in period poverty.  In order to accomplish this, we created a flyer, sent this flyer to our friends and family, and collected the donations. We used many social platforms to spread information about the drive, like Whatsapp, Instagram, iMessage, etc. 

The main aspects of the donation drive were communication and collaboration. We discussed what should be included in the flyer and also got multiple perspectives to understand how to improve on what we already had. For instance, we consulted our parents and our friends, who both recommended that we create a flyer that was easy to read, but still presented the information we wanted to convey.  After creating the flyer, we introduced it to family and friends. The key was to be clear and concise. We also created a system for individuals that were donating and often discussed each of our progress along the way. For the system that we created, we contacted people via text message. In order to remain Covid-friendly, we believed that it was ideal if we didn’t meet with the donations in person to remain safe, which benefitted not only us but the donations as well. By conducting this donation drive, we learned the importance of communication and collaboration. This donation drive was very beneficial and rewarding as it provided us with new skills that can be used to navigate the real world. 

To conclude, organizing this donation drive was a great opportunity to help people in need, especially women around the world that require sanitary napkins. With the help provided, these women have a chance of living a healthy, proactive life.  The impact of this donation drive could help many women who are in need of sanitary products and they could positively benefit from this donation drive!! :))

Works Cited :

Written By: Saptarshi Dutta | Edited By: Sonia Bhaskar, and Written By: Saptarshi Dutta | Edited By: Sonia Bhaskar. “23 Million Women Drop Out Of School Every Year When They Start Menstruating In India: Women’s Day.” NDTV, 28 May 2018, swachhindia.ndtv.com/23-million-women-drop-out-of-school-every-year-when-they-start-menstruating-in-india-17838/. 

“The State of Period Poverty in the U.S.”  •  Center for Global Women’s Health • Penn Nursing, www.nursing.upenn.edu/live/news/1545-the-state-of-period-poverty-in-the-us#:~:text=A%202019%20study%20of%20low,products%20on%20a%20monthly%20basis. 

“Menstrual Hygiene, Management, and Waste Disposal: Practices and Challenges Faced by Girls/Women of Developing Countries.” Journal of Environmental and Public Health, Hindawi, 20 Feb. 2018, www.hindawi.com/journals/jeph/2018/1730964/.

Buchholz, Katharina, and Felix Richter. “Infographic: Women Pay High Tax Rates for Period Supplies.” Statista Infographics, 28 May 2020, www.statista.com/chart/18194/sales-tax-rate-on-feminine-hygiene-products-in-selected-countries/. 

Jana Balogova – Executive Assistant to the CEO, et al. “Hygiene Packs for Syrian Refugee Women.” GlobalGiving, www.globalgiving.org/projects/hygiene-kits-refugees/reports/. 

Garikipati, Supriya, et al. “The Coronavirus Pandemic Has Triggered a ‘Sanitary Pad Crisis’.” ThePrint, 27 June 2020, theprint.in/features/the-coronavirus-pandemic-has-triggered-a-sanitary-pad-crisis/449485/. 

[By Arushi Patel and Kashish Kothari – ran the drive from New Jersey]