The 麻豆视频 Women鈥檚 Center has always believed in empowering women and setting them up to be the most successful versions of themselves. During the spring semester, the Women鈥檚 Center put that mission into action.
Throughout February and March, the Women鈥檚 Center collaborated with 麻豆视频鈥檚 Fashion School and Kent鈥檚 Socially Responsible Sweatshop to turn passion into purpose for the inaugural Days for Girls initiative.
Since 2008, the nonprofit Days for Girls has helped empower young women in countries including Kenya, Uganda and India by providing necessary feminine hygiene products that has kept them from having to miss weeks of school, thus, acquiring a more equitable opportunity for continued education.
鈥淲orking at a university where we are constantly sharing and showing the value of continued education, I couldn鈥檛 imagine a better place to do something to help all young girls have that opportunity,鈥 says Cassandra Pegg-Kirby, director of 麻豆视频鈥檚 Women鈥檚 Center. 鈥淚t just made sense.鈥
The event featured a temporary sewing factory for a 鈥淪ew and Celebrate鈥 sew-a-thon where Fashion School students, staff and members of the Kent community assisted in creating sanitary products.
Tameka Ellington, Ph.D., faculty director for diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives for the Fashion School, worked as a direct partner for the Women's Center for the event and directed the sewing workshop in addition to helping to organize the cutting stations and an assembly line to make the products for the Days for Girls kits.
鈥淚 love all the work that the Women鈥檚 Center is doing and continues to do for all the ladies on our campus,鈥 Dr. Ellington says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a wonderful initiative. If we can help some young girl in a country where basic necessities 鈥 such as sanitary resources 鈥 are not available, if we can provide that, it鈥檚 a blessing.鈥
The goal for the evening was to put together items that will provide sustainable menstrual-care solutions to girls living in Somalian refugee camps.
Through the hard work generated by 87 volunteers, the March 3 Days for Girls event resulted in more than 200 logged volunteer hours and the creation of 20 completed kits. These kits consist of a total of 160 liners, 40 shields, 40 pairs of underwear, 40 Ziploc bags, 20 bars of soap and 20 washcloths.
鈥淭he most rewarding part of my involvement was to see how my fashion students showed up and put forth so much dedication and commitment to this project,鈥 Dr. Ellington says. 鈥淚t was overwhelming to see the amount of donations we received from students, faculty and staff, as well as the local community.鈥
Days for Girls speaks to young girls as it allows them to understand and acknowledge the importance of reproductive health, as well as creating awareness around a global issue through its existence as an education campaign.
, more than 300,000 women and girls in more than 100 countries have been positively impacted by the nonprofit. Statistics from the nonprofit鈥檚 website report that school retention rates for girls in Kenya reached 96 percent after receiving kits, up from a 75 percent average.
鈥淲omen having opportunity for education positively impacts the entire community, and this program also helps to empower women to have body autonomy and remove some of the stigma around a natural body process,鈥 Ms. Pegg-Kirby says.
In America, pads and menstrual products may seem minor, but girls in marginalized areas of the world resort to banana leaves and rags as substitutes for proper menstrual products, proving that pads make a significant difference in the lives of women. Days for Girls helps counteract this by providing a safe and long-lasting alternative.
Mary Ann Kasper of Kent鈥檚 Socially Responsible Sweatshop was motivated to get involved in the initiative. Ms. Kasper assisted with securing resources, such as sewing machines and thread, and helped facilitate the environment.
鈥淒ays for Girls is a social justice project, and the Socially Responsible Sweatshop is all about social justice,鈥 Ms. Kasper says. 鈥淓ven a little bit of help can make a difference in a girl鈥檚 life, helping a girl not miss one week of school a month is huge.鈥
Collaborators would like to continue the momentum put in place and hope Days for Girls will grow and transition into an annual tradition for years to come.
They hope this event can also turn into an initiative where girls locally can benefit, too, as other schools such as Brown and Case Western University have previously executed this event.
鈥淭his issue of access to resources and stigmas associated with the natural menstrual process isn鈥檛 limited to other countries,鈥 Ms. Pegg-Kirby says. 鈥淲hy do those who menstruate have to carry the additional burden of expense for these products just based on biology? It is because of this natural bodily process that we are all here. It鈥檚 about time we recognized that.鈥
Learn more about 麻豆视频's Women's Center