On June 4, SCA organized the seminar “Women Empowerment as a Game Changer on Hygiene Initiatives” at the SCA Pavilion in Lisbon, Portugal. Catarina de Albuquerque, vice-chair of Sanitation and Water for All (SWA), Kersti Strandqvist, SVP Sustainability SCA and Joséphine Edwall-Björklund, SVP Communications SCA, debated about the need to break taboos around menstrual hygiene, especially in developing countries.
 
Ms. de Albuquerque, former UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Right to Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation, explained the implications of the lack of access to menstrual hygiene in developing countries, a situation that undermines the rights for women in the education and workplace areas.
 
“We need to ensure the necessary conditions of menstrual hygiene for women and young girls because these women can’t go to school or work during the five days of the menstrual period due to the lack access of hygienic products,”she  said.
 
Ms. Strandqvist focused her presentation on the role private companies have in order to support public institutions and NGOs fighting these types of taboos.
 
“Meeting the United Nation’s millennium development goals does not depend only on NGOs and governments. Participation and partnerships with the corporate side of the business are necessary,” she said. “We improve hygiene standards throughout the world with our hygiene solutions. The SCA-WSSCC partnership invests in educational programs, such as menstruation and puberty and parental education, helping to clarify questions about menstruation and the importance of good hygiene. SCA also focuses on adaptation to local needs in the entry to new countries, seeking to understand what they need more rather than imposing their products.”
 
SCA’s Team SCA is one example of its commitment to women empowerment. Ms. Edwall-Björklund explained: “SCA, WSSCC and Team SCA were in South Africa to talk with young girls who did not know much about or really understand the menstruation cycle. That talk supported our joint objective about breaking taboos and clarified that menstruation is something normal of women nature. We want to raise awareness of menstrual hygiene and empower women and communities to take action. Menstruation should not hold women back to participate fully in society, educationally and professionally.”