A Perth startup founder wants to make sure no woman is denied access to an essential item while at work.
Not all dinners with friends are equal; just ask Megan Harrison.
In a recent conversation with Business News, Ms Harrison described the “goosebumps” she felt during a night out with friends a couple of years ago.
For Ms Harrison – a former health and hygiene officer with copper-focused Sandfire Resources who has spent 15 years in the field – that dinner table discussions proved revelatory and inspired her to create a business.
“For My Sisters was born from a night out with friends,” she said.
“And one of the girls was telling me she’d been at a board meeting during the week and had gone downstairs and unexpectedly got her period.
“She was stressing out and didn’t know what to do. She didn’t know whether to run across to the service station and try and find something.
“And then, by a stroke of luck, she decided to open the cupboard in the disabled toilet and there was a box of tampons in there with a Post-it note sticking out of it saying ‘for my sisters’.
“She was telling me this story and it gave us all goosebumps. This one small act of kindness was so amazing.
“And she said it felt like it was one of the best days of her life.
“I thought it wasn’t good enough that a woman having access to a tampon could possibly be rated as one of the best days of her life.
“It really made me question a lot of things and I woke up the next morning, thinking ‘You know what? I’m going to try and do something about this’.”
What resulted was For My Sisters, a Kensington-based startup on a mission to ensure every Australian workplace provides feminine hygiene products along with soap or toilet paper.
“I think it just linked in nicely with my health and hygiene background and my interests in that side of it,” Ms Harrison told Business News.
“I had a lot of good contacts in the mining industry, and I thought this would be bread and butter for them.
“I know mining and I know it well. Between the sustainability factors, in terms of the materials being organic and biodegradable, I knew that was a tick.
“Even the branding itself is really sort of that earthy, dusty red. [Y]ou can’t put a white packet of tampons on a mine site; they’ll be dirty within seconds.
“So, the branding and everything is aligned very much with that in mind.
“And I really took the time to ensure it catered for not only mining, of course, but that’s sort of where my mind went.
“It’s now extended to sporting clubs. It should be everywhere. “If I had it my way, it’d be in every public space as well. We’ll get there, slowly but surely.”
Long term, Ms Harrison is hopeful the mining sector can further enhance its support for female staff.
“I would love to see every mining company nominate someone within the business who can look at femalespecific strategies, perhaps,” Ms Harrison said.
“Or is it more basic than that?
“Every mine site should provide period care. Full stop. “Yes, they do have little shops on site, and that’s really great, but the shops are often located next door to the bar.
“You work with the guy you’re paying the money to at the till of the shop. I don’t really want to go and buy my tampons from the guy I’ve just had a chat to at the bar.
“You end up trying to stuff them up your sleeve while you’re walking back to your room. Nothing about the situation is pleasant.
“They may not have the products that you like to use, or whatever it is.
“I think for the sake of a pittance it would be lovely if every site could have tampons readily available for women, both at the camp and on mine sites, because often the camps are a ten- to fifteen- minute drive away from the actual mine site where you are working.
“And if you’re not in an office-based role – say if I’m driving a truck – I can’t just drive back to camp and get my tampons.”
Aside from the business’s push into the mining industry, For My Sisters recently gained traction within Western Australia’s sport and recreation industry.
Last month, For My Sisters formed a partnership with the Perth Football League, the largest community sporting association of its kind in WA.
As part of the deal, every PFL club with a women’s team received complimentary period kits to be placed in club changerooms or first aid kits.
Additionally, PFL clubs will also receive discounts on all For My Sisters products from now until the end of the 2026 season.
This tie-up between the PFL and For My Sisters follows changes made in WA and Victoria regarding women wearing white playing shorts during matches.
In late-2022, the Australian Football League announced a change to its uniform policy for AFL-associated competitions, whereby white shorts would no longer be included in the on-field uniform of women’s teams at semi or professional levels. The ruling also applied to the national under 18s female championships.
A WA Football spokesperson told Business News while no official policy had been enforced across the state, clubs and leagues had been encouraged to use non-white playing shorts for women’s matches wherever possible.
One club that’s above the pack in this respect is Harvey Bulls Football Club in the state’s South West, which opened female-friendly changerooms at their home ground more than three years ago.
Meanwhile, Bulls’ policy precludes women’s teams from wearing white playing shorts.
The club also includes longstanding former federal member for Forrest, Nola Marino, as a past president, with her decade in the position coming well before women’s football developed the profile it has today.
City support
In Perth, Ms Harrison also sponsors the Claremont Football Club’s WAFLW team, which has embraced the For My Sisters initiative.
“I have got individual tampons and pads, but I also do little kits,” Ms Harrison said.
“Which, again, were intended for things like regional exploration, rail, port and things like that.
“But they also fit perfectly for the sporting side of things, because it’s a kit that contains tampons, pads and sanitary bags.
“So regardless of where you are, what ground you’re at, home or away game, you’ve got everything in a little kit, depending on who might need it and what facilities are available.
“I thought this fitted perfectly from the sport side of things.”
