This month, in recognition of International Women’s Month, Australian period care startup WOOM launches their new awareness campaign ‘Don’t Hide It, Just Provide It, off the back off their workplace period care research, and urge Australian workplaces to take a strong step in destigmatising periods by providing period care loudly and proudly for their staff that need it.
From strange metaphors to hiding a tampon up your sleeve, we have a long way to go on destigmatising periods, but WOOM wants to bring the menstruation conversation into the open to end period shame in the workplace – and world.
WOOM’s founders believe period care should be as accessible as toilet paper and are on a mission to end period shame in workplaces with an easy-to-use subscription service.
WOOM has been making waves in bathrooms and boardrooms across the country since their launch in 2023, and their bold and organic period care can be found front and centre in the bathrooms of companies and offices including Diageo, Fujitsu, oOh!media, Maddocks, R/GA, Airtree and 101 Collins, as well as bars and restaurants across Sydney.
Shot by acclaimed Australian photographer Prue Stent, WOOM’s ‘Don’t Hide It, Just Provide It’ campaign was born out of insights from the team’s extensive workplace period care research.
The WOOM team found that 90% of surveyed respondents had got their period at work and been unexpectedly caught without period care, and 99% of respondents believe that providing free accessible period care makes a workplace more inclusive, yet only 33% of workplaces provide period care.
“In talking to Australian employees and employers over the last two years, we have been surprised by how few workplaces provide period care for employees,” says WOOM Co-Founder Tessa Westerhof who also features in the campaign. “And many of the ones that do, have been doing so in a way that reinforces period shame – in a first aid kit or hidden in the bottom drawer at the front desk – instead of front and centre in the workplace bathroom where people actually need it.”
“That insight was the creative linchpin of the campaign,” continues Westerhof. “Now is the time for companies to invest in employee wellbeing, and providing period care, just like providing toilet paper, is a simple way to show your team that you support them. We’ve been told so many stories about women hiding tampons in their clenched fists on the way to the bathroom. Or asking a colleague to slip them a pad to tuck into their shirt and take to the bathroom. And it’s time to rewrite the shame narrative when it comes to period care. Periodhavers shouldn’t have to invent ways to hide the period care, it should just be there in the bathroom, taking the pressure off the mental load.”
In Stent’s photography series, concealing period care is taken to extreme and ridiculous measures – in hair rollers, in lipstick cases, taped to the bottom of a shoe or strapped inside a jacket.
“The insight that Tessa and Erin from WOOM presented me with about period care being in hiding in workplaces – and the world – really resonated with me, and I loved being able to take those moments to extremes in our images to show that it’s a bit absurd,” explains photographer Prue Stent. “We wanted the frames to be intriguing and a little bit cheeky, but feel like a moment of clarity for the viewer. Yes! Don’t Hide It, Just Provide It. A simple subversion, celebration and call to action of something that is greatly needed in the workplace.”
WOOM was born in a workplace bathroom by two creatives from creative production agency Entropico, Art Director and Designer Westerhof and one of Entropico’s Founders, Erin Moy. Caught without a tampon, it was an idea conjured by the panic of surviving an upcoming meeting spill-free. So the pair created a service to deliver subscription period care to your workplace, every month.
WOOM is not just about products. The founders encourage their clients to create potential pathways to more supportive workplace practices including menstruation leave and period disorder education.
But providing period care is a great place to start. So forget the pink cupcakes this International Women’s Month. Invest in something that is actually going to create change and make people’s lives better at work. And resist all ages to put it in the bottom drawer or the first aid kit. Put it boldly on the bathroom bench where people need it.
If you’re an employer and you have been hiding the period care – or not providing it at all – WOOM’s message is clear: Don’t hide it. Just provide it.Learn more about providing accessible period care in your organisation HERE.
