The Missing Chapter

India’s schoolgirls are suffering. Twenty-three million drop out of school at the onset of puberty due to lack of education and access to hygienic protection.

This crisis got even worse when schools shut down during the pandemic. Girls needed period education and access to pads but were stuck at home.

For Whisper, this was a moment for action. After three decades of providing period education and donating pads through its Menstrual Hygiene School program, the need had become even more critical.

Our solution was #KeepGirlsInSchool, an integrated plan to drive awareness of the challenges facing young girls and provide support.

Communications were designed to start a national debate and influence government policy. We also created e-learning modules for girls stuck at home during the pandemic.

Our mobile education platform received more than 40 million visits in the first 20 days, educating more than five million girls. We gathered more than 1m signatures backing our call to make period education compulsory in schools. Whisper pledged to provide period education and pads to 25m girls over the next three years.

The moment resulted in a historical decision with the government committing to change a century old education system by adding the missing chapter on periods in school books .

Whisper’s offline business grew when the rest of the category declined with online sales up 2.3 times, gaining 7.2pts share year on year.