Los Angeles, CA— Last night at the 2019 Academy Awards, “Period. End of Sentence.” won Best Short Documentary. The Feminist Majority Foundation (FMF) worked with the women and girls behind this film, which tells the story of women in a small village outside Delhi, India who are leading a quiet revolution against the deeply rooted stigma surrounding menstruation.
“We’re thrilled to have been a part of this incredible project and so proud of our Girls Learn International program,” said Katherine Spillar, executive director of the Feminist Majority Foundation.
The film follows women who, for generations, didn’t have access to pads, which led to health problems and girls missing school or dropping out entirely. But when a sanitary pad machine is installed in the village, the women learn to manufacture and market their own pads, empowering women in the entire community. The funds for that first pad machine were raised by the Oakwood High School chapter of FMF’s Girls Learn International (GLI) program.
For over 15 years, GLI has been educating and energizing students in the global movement for girls’ access to education. In this particular case, we connected students at the Oakwood School in Los Angeles with feminist activists in India and helped launch the menstrual equity non-profit, The Pad Project. The inspiring student activists are now working on installing pad machines in even more villages.
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