Gender, Adolescent Transitions & Environment (GATE) Program

Happy Thanksgiving! Immensely grateful to all of our collaborators in the United States and around the world, to everyone who is working to achieve menstrual health equity, and to the wonderful staff at GATE who bring such passion to the work. The GATE team wishes everyone a safe and gratitude filled day! ? Meet our team ? https://lnkd.in/gUhjeqtZ

Today is International Day for Elimination of Violence Against Women! Violence against women and girls continues to be a pervasive human rights violation. Click the link to learn more about this day and how to combat violence against women and girls. ?? https://bit.ly/415heCe In the context of menstrual health, women and girls face violence in various settings, for example, experiencing violence while attempting to access clean water and sanitation facilities. Check out this article from Dr. Marni Sommer regarding violence, gender, and WASH, and the need for more evidence and monitoring on this subject and the impact it has on populations. Despite being published 10 years ago, this article remains relevant and is especially important to remember today. ?? https://bit.ly/3V64ck0?

???? Yesterday was World Children’s Day: Celebrating Children’s Rights! On World Children’s Day, it is important to increase awareness regarding issues that impact children and their well-being. Click the link to learn more about this day and what it means to advocate, promote, and celebrate children’s rights! ??https://bit.ly/48Q53eg????? Check out the article on menstrual health and school nurses from our very own Marni Sommer! School systems and school nurses play a huge role in the path towards menstrual health equity: ??https://bit.ly/40M8DEq????

???World Toilet Day: peace, protection, & progress for all! November 19 is World Toilet Day as designated by the UN. Sustainable Development Goal 6 is ‘safe toilets for all by 2030’, and this day is meant to highlight the challenges that impact safe toilets, including conflict and lack of infrastructure, as well as highlight the importance of resilient, effective, and accessible toilet systems for every person and community. Click the link to learn more: ??https://bit.ly/4fBOhSI What does a healthy toilet look like? To ensure safe and clean use, healthy toilets and bathrooms look like clean areas and accessibility of sanitary products and toilet paper; check out the following link to learn more about GATE’s Menstrual Friendly Public Toilet (MFPT) Project and the toilet audit tool: ?? https://bit.ly/3NaiWtO ??? Through partnerships with researchers in various cities globally, the MFPT project uses evidence and collaborative efforts to improve menstrual-friendly public toilets and bathrooms. Next time you use a public bathroom, check out how menstrual-friendly it is!! ??

? Tomorrow (Wednesday, November 20th): Our interactive masterclass on getting started using the Menstrual Friendly Public Toilet Toolkit is happening at 8am ET! Please join us using the link below to register. ? Register for the webinar here: bit.ly/4f6du7L ?

Congrats to Mallary Taylor, MPH on recently graduating from the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health! Mallary was recently named as the new Project Director for the Architecture for Menstrual Health Indicators (AiMHI) project! This new project aims to advance Menstrual Health and Hygiene (MHH) priority indicators for national level monitoring, generating evidence, and shaping the global MHH agenda.?We are so excited to have you on the team!

Do you live in NYC, Manila, Kampala, Rio de Janeiro, Osaka, or Barcelona and have your period? We want to hear from you! Share your experiences navigating your period in the city and what it’s like menstruating on the move!??? If you’ve ever had any challenges finding pads or tampons in public, bleeding while out, or any other experiences, we would love for you to share. Hearing your experiences allows us to better learn from them and advocate for better public toilets for all and a more period-friendly environment in the city. ? ?? https://bit.ly/4fI0cya Click the link to anonymously share your experience!

???Call for action: understanding and helping boys through puberty! We are continuing our search for stories from boys about puberty! Click the link to submit a story and pass the link along to any boys you know aged 15-21 so they can share their experiences. All stories will be kept anonymous. This is a great way for boys to navigate their experiences and share advice through a book with various stories. ?? bit.ly/3YNG8nb Click the link to submit a story and share the link and for the chance to win a $150 gift card!

??Join us on Wednesday November 20th at 8:00am ET, for our #PeriodPossePresents Interactive Masterclass: Getting Started Using the Menstrual Friendly Public Toilet Toolkit. How menstrual-friendly are the public toilets in your city? ????? Join us for a webinar that introduces practical resources for finding out! Hear from experts at Columbia University who helped develop an assessment toolkit and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who successfully implemented these strategies in Kenya. Through?interactive activities?and real-world insights, this session will spark ideas on how to adapt these resources to your own context. Find out more about the toolkit here: bit.ly/40zAtna ? Register for the webinar here: bit.ly/4f6du7L ?

We are thrilled ?? to share Isabella Brocato's blog post: Periods in Public Spaces: My GATE Fellowship and the 2024 Olympics! Read about her experience working with GATE over the summer on the menstrual friendly public toilets project and her insights into the importance of this work in connection with worldwide events. Bella acknowledges great strides forward with athletes and menstrual equity, and also poses the important question - what about the spectators? Click here to read the full post: bit.ly/40zakF8