Via The Marysue and Jezebel

[sethrak]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/the-tampon-king-who-sparked-a-period-of-change-for-indias-women-7897093.html

He developed a type of sanitary napkin that not only costs a third of what the bigger corporations were charging, but can be made easily and in little co-operatives across India, giving many women jobs.

Comments

[pinesandmaples]

This topic is sticky for me, because I'm not sure if this is the development model that should be celebrated. There is a lot of positive contained in that story (including invention from within, decentralized production, employment of typically unemployable, etc), but is disposable the way to go when there could be a revolution in renewable? Because disposable isn't the ideal solution to a lot of problems. Hygienic is the solution, but we've decided (in the US especially) that hygienic means "vacuum sealed in plastic and can be sent away when we're done."

[sethrak]

Yeah, I know - and heck, as I'm sure you know, there's a movement in the US for women to step away from disposables. It's not an ideal long-term solution, but it's a nice step away from women scrounging for dirty rags or having to stay isolated during their periods. It'd be awesome to see an eventual cottage industry in reusable pads or cups, along with the upgrades in local living that would allow the users to clean them properly.

[pinesandmaples]

I'm one of those folks who goes reusable (mixture of Keeper and cloth pads), and I've been doing a lot of sj reading lately about how the need for an environmental movement had to be introduced to countries after we introduced more Western standards of consumption to those countries. It's an interesting mental collision. Reminds me of a book rooibos read a few years ago in defense of sweatshops as an economic stepping stone for women and children in developing countries.

[sethrak]

Or formula companies pushing their product in third world countries that really don't have good access to what it takes to keep bottles clean - or to clean water to mix the formula with. :/

I've been thinking about switching to reuseable pads - since I had my IUD installed three years ago my flow's been pretty light anyway. Seems terribly wasteful to throw out pads for the tiny amount I produce these days.