Social Impact
We believe that the sale of every two Pasand pads is equivalent to one day of school that our customers would have otherwise missed due to a lack of adequate sanitary protection. Currently 88 percent of women on their periods in India must resort to traditional methods such as rags, mud, husks, and ashes because they lack access or cannot afford proper pads. Inadequate sanitary protection means many girls miss up to five days of school per month, and 23 percent of girls drop out of school upon menarche. Forty percent of women in India suffer from chronic gynecological morbidity, because failure to use sanitary napkins leads to higher rates of infertility, reproductive tract infections and even cervical cancer.
We are in the business of changing habits and giving girls the option to break harmful menstrual taboos and practices by giving them access to reproductive health knowledge, mentors and confidants, and letting them know that its “ok” to talk about their periods. The discussion and buzz we hope to create will reduce the number of girls who are “terrified” when they first get their period, a sentiment that is heard over and over again in ethnographic studies of menarche in India.
We are in the business of changing habits and giving girls the option to break harmful menstrual taboos and practices by giving them access to reproductive health knowledge, mentors and confidants, and letting them know that its “ok” to talk about their periods. The discussion and buzz we hope to create will reduce the number of girls who are “terrified” when they first get their period, a sentiment that is heard over and over again in ethnographic studies of menarche in India.
Environmental Impact
By producing our pads out of locally available natural fiber extracted from the stem of a banana plant, we ensure that our business’ carbon emissions are kept to a minimum. Furthermore, we ensure that carbon emissions associated with transport are negligible, and that this agricultural byproduct is used productively rather than being discarded or burned (thereby releasing CO2 gases), and that no additional productive land is needed to cultivate the fiber we use in our pads. This is not the case of sanitary pads made out of cotton, for example.
Through local production and employment, Pasand ensures that the benefits of the business remain in the local communities where we become established.
Through local production and employment, Pasand ensures that the benefits of the business remain in the local communities where we become established.
