Meet 9 leaders fighting period poverty and stigma around the world
Periods make human life possible – and yet, in 2024, basic menstrual hygiene is thought of as a luxury. This World Menstrual Hygiene Day, learn more about these 9 leaders who are dedicated to forging a world where menstrual equity is a reality for all.
Amika George, England
Amika is the founder and director of Free Periods, a campaign and not-for-profit organization which successfully convinced the British government to provide free menstrual products in all schools and colleges in England. At just 21 years old, she was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 2021 Birthday Honours for services to Education.
Mary C. Namagambe, Uganda
Mary is the founder of She for She Pads, a social enterprise in Uganda that works to keep underprivileged girls in school by ensuring they have access to menstrual products while supporting local employment for women in Uganda.
Raíssa Assmann Kist, Brazil
Raíssa is the co-founder and CEO of Herself, a company that has the mission of ensuring menstrual dignity so that menstruation is not a limiting factor in anyone's life. They created the Menstruation School, which seeks to democratize knowledge about menstrual education.
Candice Chirwa, South Africa
Candice, fondly referred to as the ‘Minister of Menstruation’, is an activist and academic from South Africa who works to bring menstrual and sex education to young people. She runs workshops in schools with her non-profit organization Qrate and is the author of Flow: The Book About Menstruation.
Suhani Jalota, India
Suhani is the founder of the Myna Mahila Foundation, which empowers women in Mumbai’s urban slums through training and employment to make affordable and environmentally friendly sanitary products, which are then delivered to other local women. Suhani received the Queen's Young Leader award from Queen Elizabeth II in 2017.
Vivi Lin, Taiwan
Vivi is the founder and CEO of With Red, the first non-profit organization in Taiwan to advocate for period equity and to address period poverty and stigma. To augment her advocacy for menstrual equity, Vivi also established the “Period Museum”, the world's sole bricks-and-mortar museum of its kind.
İlayda Eskitaşçıoğlu, Turkey
İlayda co-founded We Need to Talk, an NGO that provides agricultural workers, Syrian refugees and preteens in remote Turkish communities with enough sanitary pads to last through a harvest season or a semester. She holds Q&A sessions and creates safe environments to talk about menstruation.
Nadya Okamoto, USA
Nadya is the co-founder of August, a lifestyle period brand working to reimagine periods to be powerful. She is also the author of the book PERIOD POWER: a Manifesto for the Menstrual Movement, and the founder and former Executive Director of the nonprofit organization, PERIOD.
Radha Paudel, Nepal
Growing up in Chitwan, Radha didn’t always see value in being born a girl and even ran away from home to escape the menstrual restrictions. Now, she is an author and the founder of the Global South Coalition for Dignified Menstruation and advocates to end all taboos related to menstruation, especially at the grassroots level.
