As part of our Visible Women initiative, Stylist.co.uk brings you the Women’s Daily Dispatch: your daily digest of international news relating to women. It’s the good, bad, inspiring and urgent stories you need to know from around the world, all wrapped up in one bitesize piece.
In today’s WDD: a new invention promises to make your period more eco-friendly, the life expectancy of England’s poorest girls has fallen, and there’s good news for female football fans in Iran.
This new invention promises to make your period eco-friendly
If you’re one of the 49% of women who worry about the environmental impact of their period products, you might be interested in trying the D. This new environmentally-friendly tampon alternative has been devised by organic tampon company DAME, founded by duo Celia Pool (pictured at the top of this article) and Alec Mills, with the aim of reducing the amount of plastic waste that makes its way into the oceans.
The D is a reusable tampon applicator made from Mediprene, a thermoplastic compound which has the feel of lightweight, smooth, flexible rubber. Special antimicrobial polymers inside the material mean that it’s super-hygienic, and extensive testing has shown it to effectively prevent leaking. It’s also designed to last a long time – but if you want to replace it, it’s fully recyclable.
The D is currently only available as a prototype that can be bought via DAME’s Kickstarter page. To find out more about the product, read our story here.
Life expectancy of poorest girls in England falls for first time in almost 100 years
The life expectancy of England’s poorest girls has fallen for the first time on record since the Twenties, according to new figures from the Office of National Statistics (ONS).
The shocking data shows that deprived girls born between 2014 and 2016 are expected to die younger than those born between 2001 and 2013. The gap in life expectancy between the poorest and richest girls in England is now seven years and five months - a record high.
Sharon Hodgson, shadow minister for public health, said: “The growing gulf of health inequalities between rich and poor exposes the terrible effects of the policies pursued by this Government.
“It’s just astonishing that this decade has seen a slowdown in improvements in life expectancy – an appalling consequence of this Government’s failure to improve the chances of the worst off – as years of underfunding in health and social care take their toll.”
Read more on this story at The Independent.
Iranian women will be allowed into football stadiums, promises FIFA chief
Women in Iran have long been banned from attending male football matches. However, according to Gianni Infantino, the Italian president of FIFA, that’s all about to change.
Infantino said on Friday that he had been assured by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani that there are plans in the works to allow women to attend football matches in the country.
“I was promised that women in Iran will have access to football stadiums soon,” Infantino told reporters at FIFA headquarters in Zurich, shortly after returning from a visit to Tehran. “He told me that in countries such as [Iran], these things take a bit of time.”
The Iranian activist group OpenStadiums criticised Infantino for attending a match between the Iranian teams Esteghlal and Persepolis during his visit to Tehran, saying that female football fans were arrested near the Azadi stadium while he was watching the game.
“While Mr Infantino was enjoying a football match in [the] men-only stadium, Iranian female football fans were under arrest,” the group said on Twitter.
Thompson Reuters Foundation News has more on this story here.
Throughout 2018, Stylist is raising the profiles of brilliant women past and present – and empowering future generations to follow their lead – with our Visible Women campaign. See more from Visible Women here.
Images: Rex Features / iStock
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