The Private Sector

An Important Piece in the Menstrual Health Equity Puzzle

by Arundati Muralidharan (Global Menstrual Collective, Menstrual Health Action for Impact), Diana Nelson (Days for Girls International) and Sarah Webb (Reproductive Health Supplies Coalition)

What comes to mind when the menstrual health community of practitioners, researchers, and advocates–think “private sector”? We often see the most dominant public narrative of the private sector as product manufacturers, as donors, or perhaps as makers of glossy campaigns. The private sector engaged in menstrual health and hygiene (MHH) is, however, a diverse set of actors. Understanding this rich landscape can help us explore how we can partner to better leverage their strengths and capacities to equitably and sustainably reach more people with quality MHH products and services.

The private sector represents individuals and organizations that are neither owned nor directly controlled by governments, who typically provide products and services, often with a profit motive. For MHH, this includes varied stakeholders including but not limited to: large conglomerates or corporate entities, large-scale product manufacturers, micro, small, and medium enterprises, and those engaged across the product supply chain, academic and research institutions, healthcare services, pharmaceutical companies, health technology and fem tech companies, financial institutions, employers and worksites, and even the media.

The private sector plays four major roles for MHH:

1. Enabling greater access to a wider range of menstrual health products and services (including education and awareness)
2. Leading research and development of products, services, and processes focused on, or related to/relevant for, menstrual health
3. Financing menstrual health interventions as donors and investors
4. Supporting female employees’ menstrual health needs and employee engagement

In our brief, Demystifying Private Sector to advance action on and investment in Menstrual Health and Hygiene, members of the Global Menstrual Collective’s Private Sector Working Group, delve into these roles. We present a brief summary here, and outline calls to action to strengthen private sector engagement for MHH.

Download the Demystifying Private Sector brief.

Innovators

Private sector actors can expand access to products and services and support research & development. They have led the way in developing and marketing a range of menstrual products and innovations to manage bleeding, such as products that are single-use, reusable, worn outside the body, insertable, made from natural or renewable materials, and even hormonal pills and devices to delay or stop periods. Menstrual waste solutions have been another important contribution. The fem tech industry has also boomed, creating digital tools to track periods, support the menopause transition, and even empower girls and women to make decisions about their own health. Private healthcare is beginning to bridge, to some extent, critical gaps in symptom identification, diagnosis and care for menstrual disorders.

Funders

The well-known role of the private sector as donors and investors can take different forms — including corporate social responsibility funds, philanthropic funds including from philanthropic collectives, and seed funds and venture capital. Each of these investments catalyze support for programs on the ground, entrepreneurial activity and innovations, as well as research and development.

Employers

Private sector companies and organizations are employers of a large and diverse workforce, a significant proportion of whom are women. Recent evidence starkly underscores how women’s health needs during their working years are grossly underserved, affecting–and sometimes limiting–their participation in the workforce. Across formal and informal worksites, people need private, safe, and clean toilets, as well as access to products to manage their periods. Some may have additional requirements such as paid time off or flexible work to manage menstrual disorders and/or discomfort that compromise or interfere with their ability to work. When employers understand and respond to the menstrual health needs of their workforce, their employees may report greater satisfaction and productivity, and as a result — companies benefit.

The private sector’s motivations to act on or engage with MHH may differ from that of governments and the social impact/development sectors. Yet they can contribute to important progress for MHH as outlined above. On the other hand, private sector offerings for MHH may be more narrowly defined, and many private sector companies may have limited experience in program design and implementation.

This is where collective action and collaboration is critical: Governments and the social impact/development sectors can partner to inform private sector actions and investments.

Calls to Action

To strengthen private sector engagement to advance MHH for all

Innovators to collaborate with social impact/development sectors and governments to:

• Better understand the needs of menstruators and ensure that product and services development is responsive to those needs.
• Deliver new products and services that are accompanied by culturally responsive messages, awareness and education, and address myths and taboos through mass campaigns.

Funders to partner with governments and the social impact/development sector to:

• Direct funding/investment in user-responsive programs, products, and services.
• Ensure investments are in line with market development and sustainability.

Employers to:

• Implement workplace policies and programs to enable employee access to the products, services, resources, and flexibility that they need to manage their menstrual health with dignity, and support positive messaging on menstrual health.

• Work with businesses to leverage their existing supply chains, and distribution and service networks to ensure wider access to a basket of menstrual products and services for vulnerable and marginalized groups, and explore avenues for collaboration for market development, research, and advocacy.
• Collaborate with the private sector, to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) within their organizations, by creating supportive menstrual environments and policies at the workplace.

• Strengthen private sector engagement in existing areas of collaboration to bolster equitable access to affordable and quality menstrual products and services at scale. This may include policy and tax reforms to support micro, small and medium enterprises to manufacture and sell quality products, and to enable the use of alternative, locally available raw materials (e.g., banana fiber) in the manufacturing of single use products. It could also include incentives for private sector participation, e.g. through CSR credits.
• Strengthen engagement with the private sector, alongside others, to develop, establish and rollout quality standards for MHH products and services.
• Explore partnerships with the private sector to create/build and pilot solutions for emerging menstrual health areas such as menstrual concerns and disorders

Platforms for private sector engagement for MHH:

• Period Positive Workplace — for employers and worksites
• Reproductive Health Supplies Coalition — for supply chain actors
• Global Menstrual Collective — for advocacy and connections with the social impact/development sector
• Coalition for Reproductive Justice in Business
• Sanitation and Hygiene Fund — to strengthen the menstrual product market