Episode 051: The Period Positive Workplace Initiative with Diana Nelson and Jess Strait
SUBSCRIBE AND LEAVE A REVIEW: APPLE PODCASTS | SPOTIFY | STITCHER | RSS
In the mission for menstrual equity, Days for Girls, The Policy Project, Share the Dignity, Population Services International Europe, The Pad Project, The International Sanitary Supply Association, and The Toilet Board Coalition partnered to create the Period Positive Workplace initiative to help organizations around the world build menstrual equity.
Visit https://www.periodpositiveworkplace.org/ to learn more.
Period Positive Workplaces support gender equality by providing period products at work.
Your organization can become a certified by doing these three things:
- Provide period products in bathrooms
- Meet WASH facility standards
- Inform employees via a formal notice (e.g., sending an email, announcing it at a staff meeting, updating your employee benefits or HR handbook, etc.) that period products are and will continue to be provided.
Period positive workplaces can increase employee productivity and reduce absenteeism for people who menstruate. Organizations become stronger and more inclusive by providing for menstrual needs.
Join over 100 organizations around the world to become a Period Positive Workplace and receive complimentary certification by applying here.
In this episode of The Days for Girls Podcast, Diana Nelson, DfG Global Advocacy Director and Jess Strait, DfG Data Systems Manager & Advocacy Specialist join us to talk about the Period Positive Workplace.
We discuss:
- In depth details on the Period Positive Workplace initiative and how it came about.
- How does having period products at work impact employees and why does it matter for businesses?
- What the data says about this issue?
- The growth of the initiative and organizations already certified.
- How you can encourage your employer to become Period Positive Workplace certified?
- What it takes to be come certified?
Mentioned in this episode:
Episode 025: Fighting Period Poverty at Penn State with Jess Straight & Emma Cihanowyz
Bios:
Diana Nelson
Diana Nelson is the Global Advocacy Director at Days for Girls International where she focuses on developing policy environments that support women, girls, and people who menstruate with the knowledge and products they need to manage their periods, including the establishment of washables standards and comprehensive menstrual health education.
A leader in menstrual health coalition building, she serves on the leadership team for the African Coalition for Menstrual Health (ACMHM), on the Advocacy and Policy Task Committee for the Global Menstrual Collective, and represents DfG on several other coalitions. She helped launch the South Africa Menstrual Health and Hygiene Coalition and advocated to the Cambodian government to pilot menstrual health education in their national curriculum.
In addition, Diana leads DfG strategic advocacy efforts at the country level in several countries to build capacity and create tools and resources to support their advocacy efforts based on each country's local needs. She currently lives in Kampala, Uganda.
Jess Strait
In her dual role, Jess oversees IT operations and Days for Girls advocacy programming in high-income countries.
Jess became involved with Days for Girls in 2018 as a founder and president of the Penn State club. Her work there included a campus-wide menstrual cup distribution, co-instructing a course on menstrual equity, conducting a menstrual health needs assessment, and running sewing operations for the club.
Jess is a graduate of Penn State University with a B.S. in Data Sciences and a minor in Entrepreneurship & Innovation. Her thesis focused on period stigma among college students. She specializes in business intelligence, database administration, and machine learning.
In her free time, Jess enjoys yoga, traveling, and watching cooking shows.
