The drive to bring period products to every coworking space worldwide.
I love coworking for too many reasons to count, and one of the biggest ones is the power of a supportive community.
While Laura and I have been busy building the infrastructure of Women Who Cowork, we’ve also been compiling lists of things we want to accomplish. We are always on a mission to support female entrepreneurship and we’ve long had a dream of partnering with the companies that are making the products and services our operators need access to. This year, we got smart and rather than attempting to build partnerships ourselves, we asked Hector Kolonas from included.co to partner with our preferred list of women-owned vendors. We specifically asked for him to get discounts to tampons and other period products that our members supply their members with.
Hector took that request and ran hard, and this is what the power of true community can do. We asked, he answered. And he did so in a bigger way than we could even imagine. You can learn more listening to Hector and I chat about the campaign in my latest podcast.
The included.co network has spearheaded a campaign to provide access to period products to every member of a coworking space, worldwide. Dubbed the Sanitary Sanity campaign (because Hector thought it was insane when he started researching and realizing that these products aren’t available everywhere- while 50% of the population will need them every month for a large part of their life– and decided he was the guy to bring some sanity to the issue), the goal is to empower coworking operators to provide these products in a cost-effective way and to display them openly, thus normalizing the topic of periods and making people with periods feel included in the space.
Coworking spaces are uniquely positioned to make sweeping global changes. Just like we’ve made open-plan desks acceptable- and now a trend. Or when we realized we are in the business of dismantling loneliness and are now focused on mental health and creating places of belonging. We have the power to use our impact to make humans feel comfortable and welcome, and we have the power to end the social stigma around experiences that affect human populations.
This article in Slate, clearly lays out the juxtaposition between providing endless free perks in coworking spaces but not meeting the basic needs of the members. At Women Who Cowork, we don’t consider tampons perks, we consider them as important as toilet paper and coffee. Can we function without them? Sure. Are we as productive without them? Nope, not even close.
Studies have shown that people who see a woman with a tampon think worse of her and even avoid sitting near her—a dynamic with roots in misogyny, to be sure, but also the makings of a poor environment for office collaboration and mutual respect.
By CHRISTINA CAUTERUCCI. “The Tampon as Rainbow Breathing Unicorn” Slate.com
JULY 06, 2016
If, every time a person with a period needs to run to the pharmacy or sheepishly ask around for a tampon, that person is no longer working on solving societal problems. By supplying members with period products, coworking operators are walking their talk of providing workspaces that enhance the productivity of all of their members. In addition, the operators can build a more inclusive community, in turn strengthening their bottom line, by allowing women and people who menstruate to feel welcome and included when they see period products displayed publicly, like paper towels, tissues, and printer paper.
The goal of our campaign is to make sure tampons are as ubiquitous as toilet paper. included.co is working to make sure these products are affordable enough that operators can stock them without worry of cost. In the future, we hope to see the discounts passed on to the members of coworking spaces as well.
The first partner company to sign on is Lola Tampons and at WWCO we are just thrilled to welcome them to the global coworking community. Their convenient subscription service delivers a variety of organic cotton-based period products to your door, on a monthly basis. Now, with this partnership between included.co and Lola, coworking operators can feel good about supporting them, supporting their members with periods and maintaining their own financial sustainability.
What can you do to get involved and get discounts to these crucial products?
- Start by giving us your thoughts in this survey so that included.co can understand the market and your needs.
- Join Women Who Cowork as a paid member to get access to these special rates through included.co
- Women Who Cowork members on a paid plan can sign up with Lola today through your account.
- Stock period products in the open so that members aren’t forced to ask for them.
- Thank included.co and Lola Tampons on your social feeds so that we can show them how much this means to us as people with periods.
We are eternally grateful to Hector for taking this on as a challenge he wanted to spearhead. Way to show up as an Ally, we <3 you!
Tell us what you think, should tampons and pads be as easy to access in the workplace as toilet paper? Why or why not?
[…] campaign is spearheaded by the included.co network and strongly supported by Women Who Cowork. The goal of this campaign is to provide access to quality period products to members of coworking […]