Our newly appointed Young Australian of the Year wants to see free sanitary products provided to girls around the world!
23-year-old Isobel Marshall who is the co-founder of social enterprise TABOO which works to eliminate period poverty and menstrual stigma, says providing free sanitary products is a goal she has set out to achieve as the 2021 Young Australian of the Year.
What is period poverty? Well, basically it is when girls or women have to miss out on important things like going to school or going to work because they can’t afford sanitary products. Here are the facts:
- In Sierra Leone, girls miss around 50 school days every year due to their period.
- 65% of women in Kenya cannot afford sanitary products.
- In India, 70% of all reproductive diseases are caused by poor menstrual hygiene.
- 1 in 10 girls in the UK have been unable to afford proper sanitary care.
- 48% of girls in Iran believe menstruation is a disease
Isobel’s social enterprise TABOO uses the money they make selling their products to help these women. How cool!
In our chat with Isobel she said: “Periods impact a certain population and if a certain population is disadvantaged for something they can’t help well then maybe authorities need to step in and bridge that gap,”
On top of their main mission TABOO and Isobel are also working hard to reduce the stigma people feel when talking about periods.
She says: “Our name is TABOO because we a playing on the fact that menstruation and menstrual cycles are a taboo and they shouldn’t be, they are experienced by half the population and they are a very natural and very necessary process!”
Follow us on Facebook to never miss a webinar and leave a question in real time!
