Lunapads

I am currently living in the northeast of Brazil, in the third largest city of the country, which nevertheless ranks first in terms of poverty and unemployment. Women are frequently the sole earners in a lot of poor households, since it is easier for them to get a job, normally as domestic servants. Working conditions can vary, some women get a salary (minimum wage, which is still not enough to cover all their family’s expenses), free meals while at work and a decent treatment from their bosses. Others are not so fortunate. Stories about sexual harassment from male employers are common, and quite often the victims of this inappropriate behaviour are forced out of their job and accused of “trying to steal” a family man. Domestic and sexual violence is also very common, and only just recently the law was changed so that a man convicted of beating a woman now has to go to jail instead of having to pay a fine. But what does all this have to do with Lunapads?

Well, I started using Lunapads not long ago, after I heard about cloth pads in an internet forum (livejournal) I frequently read. I thought the whole concept of it was fantastic, both in terms of offering much comfort as well as being better for the environment. I ordered some pads and became instantly a fan of them. Coincidentally, I started having contact with a shelter for victims of domestic violence that recently opened its doors in the neighbourhood where I live. After a few visits there, and sensing the need for independence that these women have, both economic as well as emotional, I’ve become inspired to draft a project so as to establish a small cooperative with some of these women. We’ve been thinking about different things to make, and, inspired by the story of Lunapads, one of the things we have in mind is actually making menstrual cloth pads.

We are still at the brainstorming phase of the project, but we are thinking about offering a menstrual alternative to women here, particularly in poorer neighbourhoods, for whom a monthly expenditure on disposable menstrual products is yet another burden on their shoulders. A lot of these women are used to the idea of reusing, since the majority of them either only use cloth for their childrens’ nappies, or used mainly cloth, leaving the luxury priced disposable nappies for cases when they couldn’t be near a place to change their babies. Of course, if the women decide to go ahead with the project, a lot of local studies need to be done so as to fit the product to local conditions, for example, the preferred format of underwear here is narrower than in the US, so that would have to be taken into account when designing the cloth pads. What matters more to me is that these women interested in the cooperative might become in charge of their lives, while at the same time contributing to the local economy as well as to the menstrual health of my city.

I am so grateful for being such a wonderful source of inspiration, that I can only hope that this coop project goes ahead. So, unaware as you might be, your story has been inspiring for many women, of different classes, ways of life and even nationalities. Keep the good work and keep being such a wonderful source of inspiration!

Best wishes Elena
Salvador, Bahia, Brazil

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 21st, 2006 at 3:25 pm by Guest and is filed under Guest Bloggers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.