Jessamijn Miedema, Co-founder of Eco Femme, a women-led social enterprise

Jessamijn Miedema, Co-founder of Eco Femme, a women-led social enterprise

Jessamijn Miedema is the Co-founder of Eco Femme, a women-led social enterprise working to create environmental and social change.

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Women’s bodies have been a subject of taboo since ancient times in Indian societies. Women in rural areas have very little or no knowledge about their own bodies. Hence, they remain under-educated when it comes to menstrual hygiene as well.

While the developed nations have had access to menstrual hygiene products for many decades, rural women still rely on age-old practices to collect their period blood.

The Brand Called You brings you Jessamijn Miedema, a social entrepreneur who is working very hard to ease the pains of women. Jessamijn is breaking social taboos in India by not only educating the women about female hygiene and period health, but also helping them receive the care they deserve.

00:33- About Jessamijn Miedema

• Jessamijn Miedema is the Co-founder of Eco Femme, a women-led social enterprise working to create environmental and social change by promoting menstrual practices that are healthy, dignified, affordable, and eco-positive.

00:55- About Eco Femme

• Eco Femme is a women-led social enterprise founded in 2010.
• Based in Tamil Nadu, India, our goal is to create environmental and social change through revitalizing menstrual practices that are healthy, environmentally sustainable, culturally responsive, and empowering for women around the world.
• We produce and sell washable cloth pads, provide menstrual health education to adolescents, and open dialogues on menstruation all along the way.

02:26- Feminine Hygiene Issues

• The issue of menstruation is very focused on menstrual hygiene. I think it is very valuable to look at it as menstrual health. 
• It is not only about the products that we use or access to the toilet, but it is also about how we relate to it.

11:25- Why is menstruation still a taboo?

• We’ve kept silent for such a long time, and we’ve all been participants in that. It is not our patriarchal society, but we all are responsible for it.
• Across the world, menstruation is considered shameful. This needs to change, and we need to start opening up about this.

RESOURCES:

You can connect with Jessamijn Miedema- LinkedIn

Eco Femme is a women-led social enterprise founded in 2010. Based in Tamil Nadu, India, our goal is to create environmental and social change through revitalizing menstrual practices that are healthy, environmentally sustainable, culturally responsive and empowering for women around the world. We produce and sell washable cloth pads, provide menstrual health education to adolescents, and open dialogues on menstruation all along the way.