UD alumna Lindsay Yeager is helping to create greater access to education for women and girls through access to feminine hygiene products. 

Hygiene access

UD undergraduate students work toward empowerment of African women

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9:26 a.m., July 1, 2015--Over the University of Delaware Winter Session 2014, Lindsay Yeager participated in a study abroad program in Tanzania. During her time there, she became aware of problem that was impacting the ability of young girls to stay in school past the age of puberty.

According to Yeager, who graduated this May with a bachelor of fine arts degree in visual communication, “In Tanzania, many women and girls face barriers to attending school and work due to the lack of readily available feminine hygiene products needed to comfortably travel outside of the home during menstruation.” 

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She continued, “In most cases, women use rags or cornhusks, which often leak or fall out, causing embarrassment and discomfort.”

Once she became aware of the issue, Yeager enlisted the support of a fellow Blue Hen -- Morgan Lehr, an Honors Program student majoring in elementary teacher education -- and began to take action.

Yeager and Lehr collaborated with UD students across disciplines, and have partnered with the Dare Women’s Foundation, on a campaign to empower women in Africa through access to feminine hygiene products.

“Research supports that when a woman is educated, she is more likely to be respected by her male peers and to speak out against discrimination,” noted Yeager.  “The reusable pads [they] developed have the ability to keep a girl in school during menstruation.” 

With the guidance of other students across campus units including UD’s Department of Fashion and Apparel Studies as well as the School of Nursing, Yeager and Lehr worked to design the model for a comfortable, antimicrobial and reusable microfiber sanitary napkin. 

Yeager and Lehr traveled to Tanzania in January to implement the project for the very first time. Equipped with the napkin design and women’s health information, they successfully taught approximately 20 women in Machame village how to make their own sanitary napkins using locally available sewing machines, which do not require electricity. One man from the village joined the group, making reusable pads for his wife. 

“We believe that this isn’t just about pads,” noted Lehr. “We encouraged the women to make them together because it’s also about women coming together as a community to overcome the challenges that they collectively face.” 

Yeager and Lehr have added a new leak-proof polyurethane laminate (PUL) fabric as a bottom liner, which they believe will reduce the amount of microfiber needed and therefore reduce the cost of production. 

Environmental engineering alumna Kelsey McWilliams, a 2015 graduate who also was in the Honors Program, will be conducting research on fabric absorbency and drying rates this summer. 

They plan to travel to Tanzania for the second time by the end of this year to strengthen the project and make it self-sustaining for local women. 

Lisa McBeth, an instructor in UD’s School of Nursing, traveled to the Q’Eros community of Peru with six nursing students in June and found that these women would like to take on the project in their village, as well. McBeth anticipates traveling to Rwanda by the end of this year to introduce a preconception model, which includes the reusable pads.

In addition to piloting the project, Yeager and Lehr gathered preliminary photos, videos and interviews for the creation of a documentary and book, which will bring to light the challenges Tanzanian women face.  

With plans to produce both in English and Swahili, the projects are aimed at creating awareness and raising funds to continue to support the Dare Women’s Foundation.  

As her senior thesis, Yeager completed her first draft of the book, titled Tanzanian Women - Photographs and Stories For Social Change. The book will take an ethnographic approach, highlighting, “true stories, true challenges, and true happiness that these women want to share with the world."

This project recently won the First Step for Social Innovation competition and received the Expert’s Choice Award at the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Showcase. Other funding and support for the project have generously been provided by the Kenneth Cole Foundation, Honors Program Eagleson Award, Undergraduate Research Program, Delaware Environmental Institute (DENIN), Office of Service Learning (OSL), Horn Program in Entrepreneurship, the Institute for Global Studies, Caesar Rodney Rotary, Kennett Square Rotary, Christiana Rotary, Thrivent, Nancy Gray and Vince D’Amico.  

For more information on the project, visit the Dare Women's Foundation website, watch the new foundation video or contact Yeager at lindsaysyeager@gmail.com.

About the Dare Women’s Foundation

The Dare Women’s Foundation (DWF), founded and directed by Maggie Duncan Simbeye, is a non-governmental organization that works to empower women in Tanzania to become strong, educated community leaders through projects focused on feminine hygiene care, entrepreneurship, nutrition education and conservation.

By providing resources like advising for small business start-ups, information and materials which promote education, nutrition, and hygiene, and counseling support for female victims of violence and discrimination, DWF aims to create change in in Tanzania one woman and one community at a time.

For more information on the Dare Women’s Foundation, visit the website or contact info@darewomensfoundation.org.  

Article by Nikki Laws

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