{"id":6637,"date":"2024-02-20T09:51:18","date_gmt":"2024-02-20T14:51:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/?p=6637"},"modified":"2024-02-20T09:51:20","modified_gmt":"2024-02-20T14:51:20","slug":"biodegradable-pads-and-addressing-menstrual-poverty-cecilia-giacomins-activism-in-brazil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/?p=6637","title":{"rendered":"Biodegradable pads and addressing menstrual poverty: Cec\u00edlia Giacomin’s activism in Brazil"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

1st Place, Environmental, Health or Science<\/strong>
2022-23, Division 1, News Writing<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Sophia Ciokajlo & Eleanor Cook <\/strong>
Knight Life
Loy Norrix HS<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Making menstrual products affordable and eco-friendly is not a simple task in Brazil. Young activists, such as Cec\u00edlia Giacomin, are working to make biodegradable sanitary products a reality. In addition to being environmentally safe, these pads would also be distributed free of cost to women in need. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seventeen year old Cec\u00edlia Giacomin traveled to the United States for a two week stay as a youth ambassador. In Brazil, she actively worked with Dignidade para Elas to create a biodegradable pad that\u2019s 100% organic, as a part of her work to take steps towards gender equality in Brazil and help in aiding menstrual poverty. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

An eye opening experience that sparked the beginning of Giacomin\u2019s journey as an activist was hearing the story of a woman who had endured domestic violence. Since then, she\u2019s dedicated herself to uplifting women around her and working to defend and promote women\u2019s rights and equality in Brazil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI started talking about women\u2019s rights and the struggle for equality when, for the first time, I heard the testimony of someone who for years suffered from such violence,\u201d Giacomin recalled.  \u201cI was very young, and I remember feeling at that moment that nothing differentiated us, that we needed, together, to defend rights that, throughout history, were torn from us.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Empathy, sensitivity and determination have been essential qualities for Giacomin to have as an activist. Being able to understand the struggles of women around her is one of the central influences on her activism work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s necessary to put oneself in the other\u2019s shoes, see the situation as a whole and thus recognize that not all of us are leaving the same place. To start changing some scenario, or minimize any type of problem, you first need to know who the people affected are and how this problem finds them,\u201d said Giacomin. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Along with other students from the\u00a0Instituto Federal de Minas Gerais<\/a>, Giacomin formed \u201cDignidade para Elas,\u201d which translates to \u201cDignity for Them.\u201d The main purpose of the project is highlighting and alleviating menstrual poverty in their community. One of the problems closely associated with menstrual poverty is the lack of clean and sustainable period products accessible to women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is estimated that a woman, during her fertile life, uses 10-15 thousand sanitary pads and produces approximately 4-5 kilos of waste per year,\u201d Giacomin reported. \u201cBecause they are discarded after use, internal [tampons] and external pads are less economical and are very harmful to the environment.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Giacomin explains, the single-use nature of pads and tampons means that women around the world are paying thousands of dollars for hygiene products in their lifetimes. In the United States, this sum adds up to more than $5,000. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to INTIMA and OnePoll\u2019s survey in 2021, \u201cthe average woman surveyed spends $13.25 a month on menstrual products \u2012 that\u2019s $6,360 in an average woman\u2019s reproductive lifetime.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On top of their financial cost, period products are also devastating to the environment. According to Which Period Products Are Best for the Environment<\/a> by Leah Rodriguez, \u201cPads and tampons go to landfills before they decompose into microplastics that pollute water sources like beaches, oceans, and rivers and contaminate the water supply that we drink.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Giacomin\u2019s team started working towards engineering a prototype, they had to keep several factors in mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of these factors is the uneven distribution of sanitary and well-maintained bathrooms for women in Brazil. Not having access to clean bathrooms leads to the spread of viruses and diseases. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another problem was the differences between menstruating bodies. Not all menstruating people use tampons or are comfortable with using reusable internal products like menstrual cups. This meant that whatever product Giacomin and her team came up with, they would have to make it external and flexible to different body types.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Expense was yet another challenge. Many women in Brazil are unable to purchase the more expensive sustainable menstrual products. For comparison, in the United States, a 58-pack of unsustainable and non-biodegradable pads from Always<\/a> costs about $6.29 at Target. A 56-pack of organic pads from Rael, however, costs $21.99 on Amazon<\/a>. For this reason, Giacomin\u2019s team is working to try and make their biodegradable pads completely free. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite these obstacles, Dignidade para Elas has produced a prototype of their pad. In addition to being biodegradable, the pad is 100% organic and disposable. They plan on distributing the pads free of cost through the Brazilian government, so that all women have access to them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The journey to producing a prototype has not been easy. The team has been working in the laboratory since January 2022, with lots of research into the materials and chemical processes that make up both traditional and organic pads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe problem starts with the extraction of raw materials,\u201d Giacomin explained. \u201cAbsorbent pads are mainly composed of cellulose and plastic, requiring oil exploration and the deforestation of trees for their manufacture. In Brazil, sanitary pads are not recycled and do not have a correct destination for disposal, which causes them to accumulate in dumps and landfills. In direct contact with the environment, these products release toxins and take about 100 years to decompose.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To combat the disastrous environmental effects of discarded and unsustainable menstrual products, Dignidade para Elas is using raw soapstone as an absorbent for their pads instead of pure talc. Homemade glue, cellulose and glycerin \u2014 all biodegradable \u2014 were polymerized in order to form the plastic of the pad. Bamboo cloth was used for the top layer of the pad in order to avoid skin irritation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aside from working to make menstrual products sustainable, the team is also working to address menstrual poverty. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the Journal of Global Health Reports<\/a>, menstrual poverty [or period poverty] is \u201ca lack of access to menstrual products, hygiene facilities, waste management, and education.\u201d To alleviate period poverty in Brazil, Giacomin and her team worked with a group of about 100 women to educate the community about menstruation and their bodies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese women receive guidance from prosecutors, lawyers, specialists in women\u2019s health, ecologists, in addition to participating in conversation circles, with topics such as domestic violence, psychological violence, the \u201cMaria da Penha\u201d law<\/a>, women\u2019s health, environment and sustainability, between others,\u201d Giacomin explained. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite all of the work they\u2019ve done, Giacomin\u2019s team still acknowledges that they\u2019re unable to initiate widespread change without the help of the Brazilian government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe know that solving a problem like this goes far beyond our capacity. It is something that must be initiated through public policies proposed by the government; however, we have been looking for ways to minimize the scenario in which we are faced,\u201d Giacomin said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since working with Dignidade Para Elas, one of Giacomin\u2019s greatest achievements is the knowledge that she\u2019s been able to impact women\u2019s daily lives in a radical way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSince it all started, my motivation has always emerged in the thought that someone could be helped through my project,\u201d Giacomin continued. \u201cThis was something that guided me, and that I will always carry with me, but the moment I actually felt this was when one of the women watched by the program called us to tell her story. She told us about what had gone through during her 25-year marriage, which had finally ended through the help of volunteers we presented in our project.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Giacomin, these kinds of personal connections with the women in her community are her priority.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI will always argue that this is my greatest achievement,\u201d said Giacomin. \u201cThe fact that someone will be helped.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NW-16. Diversity Coverage<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This story tells about the lifestyles, challenges and potential of those from a diverse background. It will cover not just the plight of the subjects, but may also look at how subjects deal with their diverse backgrounds and how diverse backgrounds are dealt with by others. The term \u201cdiverse\u201d is not limited to ethnicity and may focus on a wide range of subjects, depending on the author\u2019s story angle. Submit a PDF of the print page(s) on which the story was published or the URL to the story on an online news site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

JUDGING CRITERIA<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
    \n
  • Topic relevant to the school or students and reflects lifestyles, challenges and potentials of those from a diverse background<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Sharp, attention-getting lead grabs reader and arouses curiosity<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Shows thorough reporting skills through research and interviewing<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Effective use of facts\/quotes from both primary and secondary sources<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Balanced, fair and sensitive presentation<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Sentences, paragraphs of varied length; written clearly, concisely and vividly<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Proper diction\/grammar; use of third person<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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