Menstruation is a major issue when looking at girls and women in the developing world having equal access to education and jobs. The numbers presented in this video are direct and to the point: Each year girls and women miss 50 days of school or work because of menstruation — 5 years over the course of a lifetime. According to a 2004 Council on Foreign Relations study, one additional year of primary school can mean a 20-30% rise in future wages. (HT: Ian Goldsmith/GlobalEnvision)

Sustainable Health Enterprises (SHE) takes a market-driven approach toward solving this problem while simultaneously empowering women and girls around the globe: By giving women the tools they need to start their own businesses producing affordable sanitary pads. I had the pleasure of hearing SHE’s founder Elizabeth Scharpf speak at The Feast, and she’s very enthusiastic about this and bringing the topic out of the taboo by confronting it head on. What I really like about this program, aside from it’s market-based solution, is that is places the social stigma of menstruation and the challenge of women’s equality in an economic context: that lost opportunity cost belongs to the entire economy, not just the woman.

Learn more about Sustainable Health Enterprises (SHE) at: http://www.sheinnovates.com