This question sparked an important conversation: ✨How can menstrual equity be driven forward, and why does it matter❓ 👉In 2020, I launched Girl Now Woman Later to help spare young girls from the challenges my peers and I faced.

Challenges such as period poverty, lack of menstrual health education in public schools, child marriage, and what we call period truancy. My own journey began with fear and confusion. My mother, shaped by the stigma of her generation, passed down her anxieties to me. My first period brought shame and a drop in my self-esteem. This cycle of silence is rooted in cultural norms and has created generational trauma for far too many girls. ✨More than half of the world’s population menstruates. Yet, across parts of Africa, Asia, including India, menstruation is still used as a marker that a girl is “ready” for marriage. In parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, girls continue to miss school or drop out entirely because of outdated beliefs and inadequate menstrual support. This mindset must change. A girl’s first period does not mean she is ready for marriage, or for motherhood. ✨Menstrual equity is about more than affordable products; it's also about dignity, education, and opportunity. Girls are not second-class citizens whose purpose is for reproduction. As societies evolve, families can no longer depend on men as sole providers. Women are equally intelligent, capable, and essential to economic growth. When girls are educated and empowered, entire communities will and are bound to rise. ✨This is why menstrual equity matters. It is foundational to gender equality, economic empowerment, and social progress. Ending period poverty is not a luxury, it is a human rights issue. ✨At Girl Now Woman Later, donations directly support our menstrual health workshops and our upcoming eco-friendly pad initiative. 👉Here’s how you can help: Donate today: https://www.girlnowwomanlater.org/back-to-school-2025/ 💡Together, we can break the stigma, rewrite the narrative, and ensure that every girl steps into womanhood not with fear, but with confidence, or unbreakable self-esteem. #menstrualequity Bienvenue Konsimbo Founder, Girl Now Woman Later