What's SHE Reading

Once a month, we will be sharing articles and reports that we have read and can’t stop talking about. This past month, we been discussing the following: Kenya’s and India’s bold promises to deliver sanitary pads to low-income girls, start-up commandments, benefits of mobile value added services to women entrepreneurs, risks associated with using conventional pads and tampons. Share your comments below and make sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook too!

• Prime Minister Raila Odinga directed the Treasury to allocate Sh2.6 billion for sanitary towels in the next financial year. The overlooked problem of lack of access to sanitary pads is being now recognized as an issue of national priority.  This is incredibly inspiring, especially as SHE aims to go global in 2013...

• India announced the same plan two years ago, and momentum to provide access to sanitary pads to school girls as reached Botswana. Where do you think the movement for access to pads should go to next? Let us know in the comments section.

• Taboos about menstruation does not only pervade within emerging markets, but also here in North America. Women are now are seeking to break down the culture of shame and secrecy surrounding women’s bodies with more body-positive messaging. 

• Research from the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics shows the risks associated with using conventional pads and tampons.  Producing an environmentally-friendly pad has always been a top priority for SHE -the LaunchPad contains no super absorbent polymers or chemicals, and its absorbent core, made of banana fibers, is completely biodegradable.

• The demand for mobile services is universal, but can be a powerful tool for female micro-entrepreneurs across the developing world. The Mobile Value Added Services report from The Cherie Blair Foundation for Women delves deeper on how mobile phones can become an essential business tool for millions of women.

• These 25 Commandments for Entrepreneurs keeps us in check as well as motivated to do the work we do every day! Which one of these commandments do you agree with? Which ones do you seem to always be breaking?