Menstrual Cups Help Keep Kenyan Girls in School
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Re: Menstrual Cups Help Keep Kenyan Girls in School
#2It absolutely blows my mind that Menstrual cups aren't more widespread globally. I basically wouldn't even know about them if my partner didn't use them. They seem like a better option than tampons and pads 90%+ of the time.
Re: Menstrual Cups Help Keep Kenyan Girls in School
#3It absolutely blows my mind that Menstrual cups aren't more widespread globally. I basically wouldn't even know about them if my partner didn't use them. They seem like a better option than tampons and pads 90%+ of the time.
I've introduced 3-4 women to them. They all have ended up loving the cups.
I now live in Vietnam and know the owner of one of the leading brands here. She said that her biggest challenge is the fact that a lot of women don't even use tampons because of the whole fear of losing their virginity cultural stigmas.
Re: Menstrual Cups Help Keep Kenyan Girls in School
#4This is a promising venture. Low-tech solutions that truly improve quality of life. I applaud the improvements and those who've worked or donated towards this outcome. I have so many questions, though. Some that come to mind:
1. The number of donated cups is very low. Several thousand people are living better, but millions more are still struggling. Is this an effort that can scale up to provide a more universally accessible benefit? Or are there unstated assumptions, like that publicizing the magnitude of the issue will trigger outrage and bring about reform, or genuine ongoing efforts to follow through with that reform?
2. Personal hygiene products costing such a high proportion of average earnings points to a serious failure of society, government, markets, or perhaps all of the above. The government can't seem to provide, the markets can't seem to adapt, and society doesn't seem to care enough to force the issue. This isn't an exotic reason: we're talking basics for half the population here. There are people in poverty in advanced economies who have trouble with access to menstrual hygiene products, but the scale of the problem highlighted in the article is astounding. It points to an ever-present serious divide between those who greatly benefit from a connected world, and those who are having to reconcile absurd economic realities of the transition.
3. With a little help, one could bootstrap change. There is will among those most affected to ensure the continuity of ventures that make this issue better, but an injection of capital seems necessary to bring such a venture to fruition. The donation of finished products helps people immediately, but it's worth considering whether donating to bootstap local production of similar (or even inferior) products would work better such that the effort can eventually evolve to sustain itself without outside help. Sometimes, when this kind of bootstrapping is attempted, the effort falters quickly once the outside help leaves, because there's a lack of well-developed local institutions and capital necessary to sustain it. But this seems different, the institutions exist. It's the capital that's lacking.
Re: Menstrual Cups Help Keep Kenyan Girls in School
#5It absolutely blows my mind that Menstrual cups aren't more widespread globally. I basically wouldn't even know about them if my partner didn't use them. They seem like a better option than tampons and pads 90%+ of the time.
My better half uses one, but after the birth of our first child she had to use pads for a while. This was the first time I got to buy them. They are insanely expensive, it’s truly mind blowing that more women aren’t using the cup. I mean, I know it doesn’t work for everyone, but it’s frankly as though women have some sort of “life-tax” attached that we men don’t, with pads being so expensive by comparison.
I don’t remember the prices exactly, but it’s the range of a year of cup coverage being cheaper than one pack of pads.
Re: Menstrual Cups Help Keep Kenyan Girls in School
#6Goes to school from 5AM to 5PM and then studies until 11PM? Is this normal in the area?
Re: Menstrual Cups Help Keep Kenyan Girls in School
#7Goes to school from 5AM to 5PM and then studies until 11PM? Is this normal in the area?
Pretty much. Schools market themselves by showing how many of their students performed well in National exams. It drives their perceived value up so they can charge a lot more school fees.
And the common misconception is that the more time a student spends studying, the better they'll perform. Which results in their teachers overloading them with school work
Re: Menstrual Cups Help Keep Kenyan Girls in School
#8Goes to school from 5AM to 5PM and then studies until 11PM? Is this normal in the area?
This is inclusive of commute time. My young ones who are still in preschool leave the house at around 6:00 to be at school by 7:00. They usually arrive back between 3:30 and 4. And, we are talking about preschool. At least my young ones can afford a commute in a private car. The older they get, the more the homework. While this is not normal, this is ordinary life in Kenya.
Re: Menstrual Cups Help Keep Kenyan Girls in School
#9It absolutely blows my mind that Menstrual cups aren't more widespread globally. I basically wouldn't even know about them if my partner didn't use them. They seem like a better option than tampons and pads 90%+ of the time.
My better half uses one, but after the birth of our first child she had to use pads for a while. This was the first time I got to buy them. They are insanely expensive, it’s truly mind blowing that more women aren’t using the cup. I mean, I know it doesn’t work for everyone, but it’s frankly as though women have some sort of “life-tax” attached that we men don’t, with pads being so expensive by comparison. I don’t re…
Notably there are also literally taxes attached to such things. Washington tried to make feminine hygiene products tax-free during this legislative cycle, but it died in committee. Hopefully it'll pass next year, but this is still crazy.
https://crosscut.com/2019/02/wa-lawmakers-want-make-tampons-...
Re: Menstrual Cups Help Keep Kenyan Girls in School
#10It absolutely blows my mind that Menstrual cups aren't more widespread globally. I basically wouldn't even know about them if my partner didn't use them. They seem like a better option than tampons and pads 90%+ of the time.
My better half uses one, but after the birth of our first child she had to use pads for a while. This was the first time I got to buy them. They are insanely expensive, it’s truly mind blowing that more women aren’t using the cup. I mean, I know it doesn’t work for everyone, but it’s frankly as though women have some sort of “life-tax” attached that we men don’t, with pads being so expensive by comparison. I don’t re…
This "life tax" is hardly a surprise when most governments and boards of directors are made of mostly men, who have been taught not to ever speak about these issues (a taboo due to religious or social beliefs).
Now if there's a way to make money, suddenly it becomes an attractive subject for some, but the liberation of women with reusable products (menstrual cup, washable pads and period pants) will always come second to potential wealth increase with single-use solutions, especially for someone who does now experience the "problem" in the first place.
Worse than all that, the people in charge of pushing single-use products genuinely believe they are helping out women, when in reality we see cases of toxic shock syndrome due to chemicals in tampons, and the ecological impact of such single-use products.
My wife has been using reusable solutions for a few years now, the cup and period pants being the most liberating according to her.