Alexa Branch

Hello everyone! My name is Alexa Branch and I’m a junior here studying evolutionary biology and ecology at WSU. Last year, I heard about a new chapter of a nonprofit that was starting here at Washington State University, and I decided to join the menstrual movement! PERIOD is a global, youth-powered nonprofit organization striving to de-stigmatize menstruation, to fight anti-period legislation, and to provide sanitary products to those in need. Initially, I was our event planning director, so I planned events such as our “packing parties”, where we take donated menstrual products and assemble them into period packs that contain enough products for one cycle. We later distribute these directly to homeless menstruators both on the street and in shelters. Now, I’m the vice president, so I do some similar tasks as before, but my duties are broader. 

One of the reasons I decided to get involved is because I learned a lack of access to sanitary products is actually one of the most important reasons that girls won’t complete secondary education in other countries. When menstruation begins, if a woman experiences a lack of access to proper sanitation methods, she will stay home from school. By the time secondary education is reached, girls can fall more than a quarter of way behind their male peers academically and drop out because of it. Additionally, schools can also lack proper facilities for girls to change and clean menstrual products, preventing them from going. 
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When a girl completes secondary education, she is more likely to marry later, have less children (and healthier children), and is less likely to experience sexual violence. I’ve always felt strongly about gendered education inequality; I am beyond grateful to be able to attend college, knowing that I just as easily couldn’t have been so lucky. I love learning, and for many, a formal education is the gateway to a better life. Being so passionate about equal access to education, it broke my heart to learn that something so simple as not having pads could have such a huge impact on a woman’s life. Period poverty (being unable to afford menstrual products) can affect up to one in four menstruators; I’ve never personally been affected by it, so it wasn’t something I had given any thought to before I became involved. But I knew I had to do something further. 

At the beginning of the semester, I started working with Dr. Beerman in the School of Biological Sciences here on her research. The work that she does concerns iron-deficiency anemia and diabetes in other countries, primarily in economically developing regions. Her lab gathers this data through a medical program called Hearts in Motion that takes place in Guatemala every year. I work with the information they gather there concerning the health of the patients they see. Dr. Beerman encouraged me to apply to the Hearts in Motion program, and I happily did, beginning to form the idea that if I was accepted, I could bring menstrual products with me for the girls in the villages there. 

When I found out I was accepted, I immediately started trying to figure out how to make this happen. I had figured that reusable menstrual products would be ideal, so I’ll be reaching out to companies that make reusable menstrual products asking for donations, and also crowdfunding to try and make this dream a reality. Additionally, I’m conducting a research project while I’m there! I will be adding on a separate questionnaire to the one Hearts in Motion already gives, with the help of a team of three wonderful women helping me ask and translate the questions. I want to understand how a lack of access to menstrual products negatively affects girl’s education there, as well as how menstruation is viewed there and how they came to learn about menstruation. I am beyond excited to not only personally see the impact of what Hearts in Motion does, but to know that this project could allow even just one girl to go to school when she otherwise would not be able to. As Nelson Mandela once said, education is the most powerful weapon which we can use to change the world; and the first step is making sure everyone has access to it. ​