Using Social Media Platforms & Video Conferencing for Menstrual Health Advocacy
When the pandemic struck in March and everyone (and my ammi) jumped on the Zoom bandwagon, I wasn’t sure getting on every video call was the best thing for my already exacerbated mental health. I had this self-limiting belief that with social distancing protocols, non-profit schools either closing down completely, families unable to adapt to digital learning due to the digital divide in the country, it felt unrealistic to imagine our chatbot Raaji for reproductive health education finding its way to adolescent girls living in urban slums or rural areas across Pakistan.
This was especially unfortunate because we had spent a large majority of time in 2019 (1,2,3,4,5) building relationships with Pakistani schools and equipping them with digital devices so we could introduce topics like menstruation, consent, gender equality, gender roles, inclusion, innovation, sustainability through a unique human and tech-led intervention.
Suddenly, all of our learning over the last few years about building safe spaces, empathy in the classroom, and education on taboos, was flipped. Once considered safe spaces, schools were no longer accessible to anyone at all. Not just for a week, a day, possibly for the next few years.
Additionally, while girls and women still menstruated anxiously under lockdowns and without access to any products, the only hygiene everyone was concerned for and about was covid-related. And in many ways, as the infection rates grew in the country, there was no choice but to keep it the topmost priority for most of 2020.
While the whole reasoning behind our in-person school interventions (pre-Covid) was empowering girls with health education, these interactions regularly powered my own purpose, sparked my creativity, and improved my mental health. When teachers saw us playing games to teach larger concepts, I felt like we were inspiring them to use creative means for teaching. When girls fought to sit on a laptop and try out our chatbot, I felt that they knew fully that access to technology improved their lives.
I missed my old life, especially the Karachi office where I would spend most days inviting new people for events, complaining to my tiny team about the struggles of female entrepreneurship and of course planning out trips to different countries so I could learn about innovation, speak at women’s empowerment conferences, and pitch out work worldwide.
Pivot fast, pivot here, pivot there, pivot everywhere. But no one knew anything about the future - not our mentors, not the incubators or accelerators, not the team or me. No one really prepares you for a natural disaster, no one prepares you for a pandemic, no one prepares you for the world falling apart.
After taking a break to revisit my mental health, say goodbye to team members who were off to new journeys, revise the existing strategy, I got myself ready to get back into the boxing ring. I set off work with an intention - what’s right and good for me and our work - will find its way to me.
Fortunately, partnerships and collaborations did find me and helped me pivot this time more meaningfully. If I couldn’t reach adolescent girls myself anymore, there were community leaders, lady health workers, teachers, volunteers, social activists who could do this important job for me in different unreachable rural and urban areas.
In less than a month, using Zoom combined with the chatbot (remote control function), we had trained 100+ individuals on how to go and advocate for menstrual health. All of these partnerships came from Linkedin where I was constantly advocating for why menstrual health needs our urgent focus.
One Linkedin comment I had received from Anjum Malik, Communications Officer working for the EU-funded Success Program led to me being invited to Jamshoro, Sindh to conduct an SOP-adhered menstrual education community-training and focus group discussion at the offices of Thardeep Rural Development Program. It opened up my eyes to the alarming fact that Covid had made existing period poverty in the country and the region Sindh worse.
On the other hand, I was pleasantly surprised that rural community leaders were so confident and willing to speak about their own menarche experiences with me and become changemakers in their neighbourhoods for menstrual health.
The success of the first intervention led to the SUCCESS program introducing me to more partners like Sindh Rural Support Organisation allowing me for Zoom-based-remote menstrual health training opportunities in Kambar. While I explained the need for menstrual health in Urdu, the field partners translated my words and chatbot’s quotes to the audience in Sindhi. Hearing menarche stories in Sindhi made me not only want to learn the beautiful language but also record a podcast with each one of them who was so open about her good and bad experiences with periods.
I dreamed about supporting and converting these rooms I had visited in Jamshoro and Kambar into becoming digitally connected incubators and accelerators where other topics like self-care, self-defence, meditation and mindfulness, design-thinking could be introduced by successful Pakistani and international entrepreneurs committed to digital inclusion.
While community leaders closed the gaps in rural areas for Raaji, it was university and school volunteers who started our Zoom based menstrual advocacy training from their homes for urban slums. Outstanding leaders from Teach for Pakistan who primarily impact low-income schools wanted to introduce a menstrual education component in their own programs. High school students from Lahore Grammar School and business students from Jinnah University brainstormed with us on different ways they too can use tech to advocate for this important topic.
Women-specific social media groups became the primary place where we started building awareness about femtech, menstrual education needs, and how each one of us can impact in our own circle of influence.
While the combination of these initiatives played a role in increasing reproductive health product access & normalised conversations through education, we noticed that the menstrual experiences of many groups were not included or shared in the mainstream media. Through a podcast called The Last Menstruators that showcases menstrual experiences, we started interviewing:
transgender men and women
girls and women living on the streets and/or are homeless
people who have different disabilities
womxn belonging to indigenous groups or nomadic communities
womxn who are incarcerated
Girls who have gone through female circumcision or suffered sexual abuse
those suffering from severe depression, PTSD, anxiety or mental health disorders
women who have gone through eating disorders or currently suffer from them
women living in refugees centers or shelter groups
women with extremely stressful jobs where long hours are normal and sanitation facilities are unavailable
women who have had an abortion or miscarried.
Last but not least, a partnership with CoCohub led to us inviting Raaji on Zoom calls so she could share her experiences and advice on various menstrual topics. While we have only released two videos and are using an existing avatar, we can’t wait till she has her customised avatar/voice and can speak a few sentences in urdu.
In the midst of it all, we got acceptances in entrepreneurial programs in Canada and the UK. While my partners-in-crime Suha Suleman and Tanzila Khan supported all these initiatives as much as they could, I started reaching my own social media burnout. Even getting this article out in time for me took a couple of days.
However, as we move to more menstrual advocacy, conversation and education in the coming months, I wanted to make sure that I had communicated to people who have followed my initiatives since 2017 that I will figure it out. Thank you for always believing in me and we hope to always make you proud of our direction.
