How the Thinx Inc. GiveRise program is advocating for menstrual equity, education, and access through hyperlocal action and grassroots activism.
By Madison Greer
The State of Sex Education and Product Access in the U.S.
There is a gap in America’s public education system where sexual education should be. As of 2016, only 24 states and the District of Columbia require sex education in public schools, and 20 require this information to be medically, factually, or technically accurate. Over half of the adolescent population isn’t receiving this critical information, and the remainder may still experience gaps. Sex education curriculum can be limited by parental consent in 36 states and the promotion of religion is restricted in just three; only nine states require the curriculum to be unbiased against race, sex, or ethnicity. Young people need access to this knowledge and educators need access to the appropriate tools and materials. When provided with this, students will be able to confidently make decisions about their reproductive health and manage their bodies with dignity.
Menstruation affects half of the population, yet there are still barriers to access in schools, prisons, and shelters. The majority of students lack access to period products in schools, with only three states requiring free menstrual products in high schools. These students miss out on learning opportunities and instruction; 1 in 4 teens have missed class because of lack of access. Beyond the classroom, millions of women are unable to purchase period products due to poverty, homelessness, or incarceration. A solution is necessary to provide free and easy access for all.
GiveRise’s Approach
GiveRise launched in July 2019 as the Thinx Inc. social impact program. After pursuing a direct impact model in partnership with AFRIpads to fund the production of reusable pads in Uganda when the company first launched, the period and bladder-leak solutions company recognized that period product access is just the tip of the iceberg in achieving menstrual equity — shifting policy and expanding education are also key in ensuring a scalable solution to period poverty. The GiveRise social impact platform builds on the company’s mission to empower every body through innovative solutions and social change. It is divided into three pillars: education, grassroots activism, and access to products.
GiveRise’s Strategies
Educate the Next Generation: The EveryBody Program is the first ever inclusive, medically accurate activity-based puberty education program for 10 to 13 year olds of all genders. GiveRise partners with schools and afterschool programs to share its curriculum. By providing facilitator’s manuals and operational and logistical support, GiveRise is addressing gaps in reproductive health education and ensuring that students have access to the knowledge they need to make healthy choices for themselves.
Eliminate Structural Barriers: The GiveRise team sees their organization as a social impact platform to find a solution to the menstrual equity and product access problems at a structural level. GiveRise is making strides in legislation, education, and access to make information and products available to everyone despite their socioeconomic status or situation.
Provide Access: Through the EveryBody Program and their product donation initiatives, Thinx is expanding access to period products for communities across the country.
Challenges Faced
The Gender Binary/Cultural Landscape: GiveRise’s education program was created to serve students of all genders, but the current cultural landscape emphasizes the separation between boys and girls in the sex education process. This reinforces the idea that periods are a women’s issue and therefore shouldn’t be talked about. GiveRise works to ensure that this kind of knowledge about puberty, periods, and what happens to different configurations of bodies is something that all students have access to.
Social Stigma: While some educators or parents may think that it is improper for boys and girls to learn this information or discuss period products side by side, GiveRise aims to promote inclusivity and eliminate this pushback. Through the EveryBody program, GiveRise is helping schools have conversations with families, caregivers, and students so that they feel they are equal partners.
Long-term Change: GiveRise realizes that though important, product donations are a band aid solution to menstrual equity. It is important to eliminate structural and institutional barriers through activism and legislation now so that product donation isn’t necessary in 20 years.
GiveRise’s Best Practices
Harnessing Community: GiveRise recognizes the power of harnessing communities of customers, donors, and supporters to create meaningful spaces for them to interact and participate. This tactic has increased the program’s flexibility and responsiveness to major culturally-relevant movements in the regions they are working in. An empowered, connected customer community will feel more moved to help bring attention and make noise.
Emphasizing Data: The GiveRise and EveryBody programs target schools of all genders and rely on outreach that emphasizes the data around the current state of menstrual equity and how students feel about their right to access critical information that they need to make basic decisions about their reproductive health.
Participation in Local Government: By providing operational support, training, and strategy to period activists and young people, GiveRise creates a coalition of support to get policy moving at the local level. This has an impact on local officials who make decisions on things like school budgets, which may otherwise be a limitation. In addition to the United for Access campaign, GiveRise hosts local and national petitions to jumpstart grassroots activism.
Partnerships: GiveRise partners with PERIOD, Girls Inc., Safe Horizon, the Alliance of Border Collaboratives, and local New York City organizations to expand access and community services. The GiveRise team prides themselves on standing shoulder to shoulder with their community partners to help them do the work on the ground.
Vision for the Future
GiveRise is committed to achieving long-term solutions in government and works to make increased access to period products a top legislative priority. This includes supporting bills like the Menstrual Equity for All Act and Real Education for Healthy Youth Act, elevating the issue of period poverty within the national election, and continuing to champion increased access to medically-accurate, inclusive health education through their EveryBody program.
In partnership with PERIOD, a youth-run nonprofit, GiveRise launched the United for Access campaign, calling on local school boards and college campuses to provide free and easy access to period products in all school restrooms. To date, they have shifted 12 local policies, including 3 pilot programs, and have garnered more than 113,000 signatures on their national petition demanding that US Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos incorporate menstrual equity within federal education policy and initiatives.
GiveRise envisions a future in which everybody has access to the products and knowledge that they need to manage their bodies with dignity.
Laura Blackburn is the Director of the Thinx Inc. GiveRise Program.
To learn more about the GiveRise Program, please visit: https://www.shethinx.com/pages/thinx-giverise
