Traumas every lady goes through in public places - PERIOD

Most female goes through monthly menstruation routine and it can be frustration for some. Research found that globally, 288 million people out of 2 billion women of menstruating age around the world have their period everyday, yet one out of three don't have proper toilet to use, and not to mention any proper facilities to dispose their feminine hygiene waste. This can easily lead to emotional impact of period stigma or period shame and also physically impacting their daily activities with great discomfort. Therefore, it is important to have well equipped feminine hygiene facilities in public washroom, easing out their struggling days during the menstrual period.

Retail and shopping mall

Women love shopping, an oldest stereotype that stays ever true till today as one of the research shows that women are generally pretty happy shopping for around two hours before they start to get bored or stressed out. They increase their happiness by investing in experiential (rather than material) purchases, and such purchase experience definitely fulfill their emotional and physiological needs.

By having a proper washroom well equipped with feminine hygiene facilities, this will also enhance their washroom experience in retail mall and increased the dwell time to continue on their shopping pleasure, especially during their menstruation days. Such delightable customers’ experience should always be prioritised, as it only takes one bad experience to turn customers away and reduce the chances of having them back for return visits. Certainly, we do not want such a situation to happen, as this will impact negatively on business revenue.

Hotel and resorts

Everyone loves going for a vacation, especially women. For me, choosing the right hotel makes a lot of difference. Besides having top notch facilities, cleanliness is one of the factors that affect my experience in the hotel especially washroom. One of my unpleasant encounters was seeing flying insect ‘partying’ inside the washroom, yes, what an unwanted surprise awaits me in the washroom! The flying insects were actually not attracted by food source but instead from the foul smell due to the improper way of feminine waste disposal in the toilet.

Such unpleasant experiences easily affect customers’ emotions and potentially provoked them to leave bad reviews for the hotel. “It doesn’t matter if 90% of your hotels provide incredible customer experiences. If 10% of your hotels are performing poorly that reflects on your overall brand – it can severely damage public perceptions of your hotel.” - Quoted from a customer satisfaction blog.

Office

Society has been slow to recognise that period pain can be a significant issue for working women, although attitudes do seem to be changing for good in the modern days. How can we help to alleviate their pain and discomfort while encouraging them to be productive in the workplace? On an average, working women spend 8 hours daily in an office environment. During the monthly menstruation days, it is advisable to change the sanitary pads every 4 hours for hygienic purposes. Hence, employer in organisation can make good changes for women employees by providing a proper feminine hygiene facilities that helps to reduce their discomfort and struggles. With such well-equipped feminine facilities at the workplace, women can continue to stay focused and elevate their performance at work.

Education

Girls usually have their first menstrual experience at the age of 12, and it can be panicky or horrifying moments for some. Educating them from young helps them to be more prepared in managing menstruation days hygienically. At the same time, it is equally important to create awareness to male students as well on respecting the girls’ privacy and dignity in managing their new challenges on handling menstruation days. Girls should be empowered to take on the new changes bravely without limiting their daily physical activities in school due to worry of shameful ‘leak-out’ situations or not having a proper feminine hygiene facilities in school.

Therefore, having a well-equipped feminine hygiene facilities in female washroom helps to reduce anxiety for female students as they are able to manage menstruation days without feeling shame and fear. This will eventually boost their confidence level, continue to excel in sport activities and in-class learning experience.

In conjunction with Menstrual Hygiene Day on 28 May, we can make a difference to appreciate and support women of all ages in our lives, whenever they are be it at school, workplace or even when they are shopping and traveling. Find out more on how you can play a role in supporting your female employees and customers in providing proper female hygiene facilities at your premises, contact us or submit a form here.