By Shaireza Jaafar
GOMBAK, 27 April 2023: The Women’s Division of IIUM Student Union (IIUMSU) launched the first phase of the Period Poverty Movement called the “Moontime Project” on 10th April in the Human Sciences Dry Area of IIUM Gombak.
Built upon the themes of ‘to advocate’ and ‘to educate’, the movement was a direct initiative taken by the Women’s Division of IIUMSU to provide easy access to sanitary pads inside the IIUM Campus.
In an interview with IIUMToday, Programme Manager of the Period Poverty Movement, Aaliyah Nadjmin binti Danial expressed that “something needs to be done in combating the difficulties managing menstrual hygiene that female students are facing.”
She stressed that, although there was a plethora of actions being done to put a halt to period poverty, the limited access to sanitary pads sparked the fire for immediate action.
“The movement liaised with Peduli Merah, an NGO which has been providing significant support in supplying sanitary pads, helping to address the challenges that many women face in accessing menstrual products,” she added.
“It took us around two weeks to prepare for the launch, from organising to dissemination of the pads and we sorted and tagged the pads for dispensers in just three to four days as our goal was to ensure that everything was ready for the launch, including the distribution of pads,” she clarified.
A successful launch also comes with insurmountable doubts, she added, “I was really worried about this launch because it was being conducted during the month of Ramadhan and we had concerns about both the manpower available and issues related to timing.”
She heavily acknowledged the equal efforts made by both women representatives and volunteers in successfully launching the project as without the hard work of these individuals, the launch may not have been successful.
She hoped that more volunteers will contribute to the collective action, especially male volunteers as they can help break the stigma and can assist with the restocking of supplies to ensure women have access to menstrual products when they need them.
In her concluding remarks, Aaliyah expressed her appreciation towards IIUMSU and the Office for Communication, Advocacy and Promotion (OCAP) for promoting the launch through their social media platforms which contributed to many positive feedbacks received.***