Idea 449 of 500. Cluster 23: The women who are not working
Menstrual-product manufacturing at a price a schoolgirl can afford, which keeps her in school
The mechanism, from the book
The single largest unused asset in the country is sitting at home, and the reasons are practical, not attitude.
Every idea in cluster 23 uses this mechanism.
A first step
Buy the cheapest pads on sale in one district town, cost the materials to make a comparable product by hand, and work out both prices per packet. Then ask a school principal or the teacher in charge of welfare how many girls miss days each month, and offer a trial supply at your price. The proof is a school or parents' group that orders a first term's supply.
- Who pays first
- A school, parents' group or welfare society that buys in bulk so girls have a product they can afford every month.
- What leaves today
- A girl who misses school every month loses the education the country pays for; an affordable local product keeps her in class and the spending local.
The idea and the mechanism are from the book. The first step was written for this site as a suggestion; if you know a better one, say so.
The test
Does it keep value that now leaves the island, or build the proof that lets somebody else do so?
The only test any idea on this site has to pass. The four rules that go with it are here.
In the book
- Ch. OneThe Letter That Says Yes and Means No
32% of adult women in work, against 70% of men
More from cluster 23
- 436Childcare co-operatives run by mothers for mothers, licensed and inspected, in every town
- 437After-school clubs at the schools, paid by the parents, run by teachers who want the income
- 438Women-only transport services for the night shifts and the early trains
- 439Home-based work platforms that pay properly: sewing, bookkeeping, transcription, design
- 440Shared workspaces for women with childcare attached, in Colombo and the district towns
- 441Women's craft co-operatives with a single brand and a single buyer abroad
Idea 449 of the 500 in the appendix of Why Not Sri Lanka? Every one can be started by one person, one family or one small firm.