Changing the Flow pushes for period equity
Group based in Waterloo Region will host an event May 28 to mark Menstrual Health Day
A Waterloo Regionbased small business that advocates for period equity wants to see menstrual products freely available in every washroom across the country by 2030.
Changing the Flow advocates for and helps businesses, schools and other organizations supply menstrual products.
Changing the Flow also has a second goal: “That there be no more shame or stigma or inequity for all bodies that menstruate,” the organization’s co-founder, Kevin Hiebert, said.
The movement has been making headway in Canada and elsewhere.
Earlier this month, the federal government announced it would require all federally regulated employers to make menstrual products available, as of Dec. 15, to workers at no cost when they are in the workplace.
“Treating pads and tampons as basic needs will help improve equity, reduce stigma, and create healthier, more inclusive workplaces,” a news release said.
Changing the Flow was born a few years ago from an effort to collect donations of period products, but it wasn’t long before founders realized there was more work to do.
“It started out of a recognition that the need for true menstrual equity will not happen without deliberate and intentional work to make it happen,” Hiebert said.
Changing the Flow is set to become the national lead for the Period Positive Workplace initiative.
The initiative, which brings together five international groups into one coalition, will launch the same day that Changing the Flow hosts an event at the Apollo Cinema in Kitchener to mark Menstrual
Health Day on May 28.
“Basically (the coalition is) drawing awareness to the idea that it’s good for business to invest in the menstrual health of your employees,” Hiebert said.
The event will also mark the launch of Period Pin, an app that will allow people to find in real time where there are accessible, free period products available.
The event will include artwork
from Avallon Tu called “Girl Flu,” which depicts “the absurdity of menstrual myths around the world and how the old tales of the ignorant have seeped into the present lives of our women.”
Attendees will also be invited to decorate boxes that Changing the Flow sells and supplies to organizations, containing menstrual products.
Donations of unopened packages
of period products or products in individual wrappers will be accepted at the event, which runs from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
People can register online to attend by searching “menstrual health day” at eventbrite.ca.