In the fight for menstrual equity, there have been people and organizations all across the world that have stood up for such an important issue that affects women and girls globally. These entities have created a huge splash in the pool of the menstrual movement, speaking up for the voiceless and pushing legislation to make a real change. When you think of the voices that have positively evoked change, who do you think of? If Jennifer Weiss-Wolf doesn’t come to mind, then you should probably get to know her and what she’s doing menstrual equity.
Jennifer Weiss-Wolf is one of the top leading voices for equitable menstrual policy. She’s also a writer and an activist, advocating for the livelihood of women and girls across the globe. Wolf is the founder of periodequity.org and the author of Periods Gone Public. This important book “explores menstruation in the current cultural and political landscape and to investigate the new wave of period activism taking the world by storm.” Newsweek has deemed Wolf as the “architect of the U.S. policy campaign to squash the tampon tax.” With great recognition comes great responsibility and Jennifer Weiss-Wolf works to not only talk the talk, but walk the walk.
Wolf serves as the vice president for the Brennan Center for Justice which is a nonpartisan law and policy institute that works to build an America that is just and free for all. This position allows her to amplify her voice and increase the amount of people that can become aware of menstrual equity.
As previously stated, Wolf is the founder of periodequity.org, which is the nation’s only legal organization dedicated to ensuring accessible, affordable and safe menstrual products for women and girls. This platform focuses on three core issues that drive the overall importance and need for menstrual equality. These three core issues are: the tax, the access and the safety.
The first of the core issues, the tax highlights the fact that since 2015 eight states and two cities have eliminated what is known as the tampon tax. The issue of access highlights the fact that providing access through legislation (New York City Council in 2016) to require free menstrual products in schools, shelters and jails-- policies like this have been replicated in states across the United States. The U.S. Congress and president have embraced accessibility by signing into law the First Step Act which requires free menstrual products for incarcerated women. Lastly, the issue of safety highlights the fact that proposition 65 was created to warn customers, make products safer, push for long term testing and enable institutional procurement of safe menstrual supplies.
Jennifer Weiss-Wolf has made great strides in the fight for menstrual equality and continues to advocate for women and girls across the world.
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