Teaming up with former Miss South Africa, Natasha Joubert, Kotex hosted a menstrual health talk on Thursday at Norwood Primary School in Johannesburg.
The educational event was attended by more than 100 Grade 4 to 7 girl learners.
The girls did not only anticipate Joubert’s nuggets of wisdom, but they were eager to indulge in menstrual health as some of them have already started their menstrual cycles.
With menstruation still a taboo in some societies, Joubert opened the floor for the girls to share their first period experiences.
This was to empower the learners about menstruation, encouraging them to be vulnerable to the female figures in their lives.
Most of the learners described their first period as a “death experience”.
With research proving girls miss 25% school days per year due to period poverty, Kotex’s sanitary towel programme targets low and middle-income schools across Gauteng, tackling period poverty.
Marketing manager at Kotex, Caitlin Meredith, told The Star that the programme was launched last year.
Although the initiative has not yet expanded to indigent communities, in particular rural areas where girls face the issue of period poverty, they have reached over 30 000 school girls across the province.
“We have not expanded the programme yet. This year we are reaching over 100 000 girls across middle and low-income schools in Gauteng,” said Meredith.
Kotex is in partnership with the Gauteng Department of Education (GDoE).
Hence, Meredith urged stakeholders to get involved with the initiative, beating period poverty.
“A lot of big organisations are cottoning on to how big of an issue period poverty is in South Africa. Period poverty disadvantages our girls especially when they leave school for varsity- many of them may have missed approximately 20% of their school days. We don’t have any partners at the moment; we work exclusively with the GDoE,” said Meredith.
Joubert added that a brand as big as Kotex holds the responsibility to champion against period poverty in marginalised areas, where there’s little to no access to sanitary towels.
The programme also plans to include the boy child next year in such events, aiming to foster menstrual health education among men.
“It’s something on our cards next year. It’s important to realise the men of tomorrow are the boys of today. We need to help them understand their women counterparts and how they will support them so that the cycle does not continue,” said Meredith.
Kotex brand ambassador and influencer, Dr Nosipho Mhlanga said including men in menstrual education spaces would break stereotypes and stigmatisation against periods, while addressing period poverty.
“In our recent media engagements with Kotex, we have engaged a lot on the question of boys and men in the community. It’s not just a women’s issue, but a community issue. Women don’t necessarily stigmatise themselves, there are a lot of men involved in this stigma,” said Mhlanga.
Mhlanga’s words come after the event was exclusively attended by girls.
Joubert believed that exclusive pad drives provide a safe space for girls to express their vulnerability.
“Let’s bear in mind these girls are still uncomfortable, they are young. It is also to give them a safe space and treat it like a sensitive matter until they are familiar with their periods.
“We should treat it like something important for ladies to feel safe when they have questions about periods. If there are boys in the room, they won’t open up, you must take that into consideration,” said Joubert.
However, she suggested men can be taught about menstrual health and period poverty in separate spaces.
The Star
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