Here’s a problem that had simply never occurred to me as a major factor in the economies of developing nations: Menstruation. No need to squirm, it is a fact of life and has an effect on life for women and men.
Millions of girls and women in developing countries miss up to 50 days of school/work per year. This is a huge problem, period.
Why is this a problem? Not simply because the monthly visits from aunt flow, the cramps, back aches, fatigue are a pain; not because girls are getting out of PE or playing hooky or calling in sick because they don’t feel like working once a month, but because women in developing nations do not have access to simple necessities such as tampons and pads and that is debilitating.
Without pads and tampons, women are compelled to use rags, mud, bark, or nothing at all. As one might imagine this is neither comfortable nor safe. Menstruating women fall victim to infection and illness more often than not, they are forced to miss school and work and are forced to forgo the opportunity to participate in and support their communities.
This has a crippling affect on the national economy in several ways, for example, for every dollar a woman earns, she invests 80 cents in her family (as opposed to 30 cents by men), so when women stop earning, families aren’t sustained.
Here’s the good news: someone noticed and did something about it; Elizabeth Scharpf started SHE (Sustainable Health Enterprises).
Using waste from banana plantations, SHE manufactures menstrual pads from banana tree fibers, made and distributed in Rwanda, they are then sold at an affordable cost.
SHE intends to fulfill girls’ and women’s unmet need by helping local women in developing countries jump-start their own businesses to manufacture and distribute affordable, quality, and 
Eco-friendly sanitary pads. SHE will look to use local raw materials, instead of all imported materials, to ensure affordability and accessibility. This way SHE is making it possible for women in the developing world are able to manage their periods the way women are able to in the developed world.
Continued participation in the community, reduced risk of infection and disease and a sense of confidence in being able to maintain functionality during the course of a natural monthly cycle are key elements in a steady rise in the productivity of women in developing nations faced with this problem.
Good job SHE!
Check out SHE.
SHE needs support.
Note: I wish I was poetic enough to have thought of the title, but "Women Hold Up Half the Sky" is a Chinese proverb, and the title of a report I took a look at as a reference for this article.
