GIRLNOWWOMANLATER

Girl Now Woman Later Inc. is a 501(c)3 nonprofit. GNWL educates to reduce the period stigma for girls in Burkina Faso. We educate them to not skip out on life!

[GIRLNOWWOMANLATER @GNWL_INC]

International Women's Day | MARCH 8, 2026:
Seated and Protected Shall I Be!
Sit firmly in the chair you bring with you.
As the trailblazing Shirley Chisholm once said, “If they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair.”
#ForALLWomenandGirls
#GIRLNOWWOMANLATER

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#ChampionsOfChange
#SeptimaClark #FaridaSoniaTiemtoré
#BlackWomenLeaders #EducationIsPower #AfricanWomen #GirlNowWomanLater
*Septima Clark Photo: Courtesy of the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior
*Farida SoniaTiemtoré Photo: Courtesy of Global Fund

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GNWL 2026 Black History Month: Champions of Change
Every February, Black History Month is celebrated. As we remind ourselves, there are countless Black genius trailblazers whose contributions we may not fully know, or whose impact we sometimes take for granted.

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C’est l’occasion de nous rappeler qu’il existe d’innombrables génies et pionnières noir(e)s dont nous ne connaissons pas toujours pleinement les contributions ou dont nous tenons parfois l’impact pour acquis.

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✨ Showing up for menstrual equity 🩸🤝
From campuses to community events, our partners show up with heart not just supplies. Together, we’re turning collective action into real impact. Grateful for every organization walking alongside us.🤲

https://t.co/CXC9Zuzkns via @YouTube

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🩸Behind The Scenes with Girl Now Woman Later
The GNWL Menstruation Health Workshop is more than a pep talk!
🩸Comfort and boredom are words that are not connected with our workshops. We simply do not shy away visually or orally in the workshops. We tell it like it is! Period is called period! 
🩸One of our objectives is to end period truancy and period shame by educating schoolgirls about Menstrual Health. Topics of discussion also include but are not limited to: Leadership and empowerment skills in addition to stopping the taboo and toxic period syndrome.
🩸We also invite parents into our conversations and workshops.
En coulisses avec Girl Now Woman Later
L'atelier sur la Santé Menstruelle de GNWL, c'est bien plus qu'un simple discours d'encouragement !
🩸Confort et ennui ? Ces mots ne font pas partie du vocabulaire de nos ateliers. Chez nous, on ne mâche pas nos mots et on n'a pas peur des images. On appelle un chat un chat, et les règles... eh bien, ce sont les règles, un point c'est tout ! 
🩸L'un de nos objectifs est de combattre l'absentéisme scolaire lié aux menstruations et de briser la honte qui les entoure, en informant les jeunes filles sur leur santé menstruelle.
🩸Nos discussions abordent aussi, entre autres : le développement du leadership et l'autonomisation, sans oublier la lutte contre les tabous et ce que l'on pourrait appeler le « syndrome toxique » des règles.
🩸Nous invitons également les parents à se joindre à nos conversations et à participer à nos ateliers.
#GirlNowWomanLater
 #PeriodFriendlyWorld

[GIRLNOWWOMANLATER @GNWL_INC]

🩸Help us to PEN together: Pencil, Educator, Notebook
🩸One of the main missions for Girl Now Woman Later is to educate girls about menstrual health and reduce period shame. GNWL also works to increase the graduation rate for middle school girls and high school girls in Burkina Faso.
🩸We strongly believe that an educated girl will develop into an emancipated, empowered, and self-sufficient woman. In Red, we menstruate In Red, we fight for period equity .
🩸Avec « P.E.N. », semons les graines de leur avenir.
GNWL œuvre également pour améliorer le taux de réussite scolaire des collégiennes et lycéennes au Burkina Faso. Nous sommes profondément convaincues qu'une fille instruite deviendra une femme émancipée, autonome et maîtresse de son destin.
🩸En rouge, nous avons nos règles. En rouge, nous luttons pour l'équité menstruelle.
#GirlNowWomanLater
 #PeriodFriendlyWorld

[GIRLNOWWOMANLATER @GNWL_INC]

🩸Why Does Menstrual Equity Matter?
Half of the world population who are menstruating can tell you that period poverty is real! Period poverty is a worldwide issue.
🩸Period poverty exists worldwide in both non-wealthy and wealthy countries. For example, period poverty is an issue in the U.S., which is usually called a first world country (and even one of the richest countries). Yet, the issue is not considered as a human crisis because there is money and profit to be made. 
🩸Despite poverty income levels, the U.S. (and most countries) are adding taxes on feminine hygiene products.
Some people might say that these are female problems and not worth spending the time on them.
🩸Well, they are utterly wrong because a period is a humane and biological process, which can’t be ignored, or pushed to the side. Females around the world are experiencing dire
conditions mentally and or physically during their period that we can’t ignore. The simple basis of washing one’s hands is an advantage in some public schools. 
🩸At the same time, not having access to clean water is a health issue, if it is not available. A country cannot be whole, thriving, or dynamic when half of the population’s basic needs are overlooked and left to fend by itself. Getting access to period products is a basic necessity. Teaching young girls how to prepare and manage their period is a necessity.
🩸Stopping the stigma and shame about periods is a necessity. We are all connected as a girl is someone's daughter, a woman is someone's mother!
Therefore, a female problem is not just a female problem. Period , or menstrual equity should matter to all genders and should be seen as a worldwide issue.
🩸Menstrual Hygiene Day 2025! and #PeriodFriendlyWorld
Pourquoi l'équité menstruelle est-elle si importante ?
🩸La moitié de la population mondiale concernée par les règles peut vous l'assurer : la précarité menstruelle est une dure réalité ! C'est un fléau mondial, qui touche aussi bien les pays en développement que les pays dits riches. Prenons l'exemple des États-Unis, souvent qualifiés de pays du « premier monde » (et même l'un des plus fortunés). 🩸Là-bas aussi, la précarité menstruelle sévit. Pourtant, ce problème n'est pas traité comme une crise humanitaire, car des intérêts financiers et des profits sont en jeu. Malgré les niveaux de pauvreté, les États-Unis (comme la plupart des pays) continuent d'appliquer des taxes sur les protections hygiéniques.
🩸Certains esprits chagrins diront peut-être que ce sont là « des problèmes de femmes » et que cela ne vaut pas la peine de s'y attarder.
Eh bien, ils se trompent lourdement ! Avoir ses règles est un processus humain et biologique fondamental, qui ne peut être ni ignoré, ni relégué au second plan. Aux quatre coins du globe, des femmes et des jeunes filles endurent des conditions éprouvantes, tant mentalement que physiquement, pendant leurs règles – une situation que nous ne pouvons plus ignorer.
🩸Le simple fait de pouvoir se laver les mains relève parfois du luxe dans certaines écoles publiques. De même, le manque d'accès à l'eau potable constitue un véritable enjeu de santé publique. Un pays ne peut prétendre à l'unité, à la prospérité ou au dynamisme si les besoins essentiels de la moitié de sa population sont négligés, la laissant se débrouiller seule. L'accès aux protections périodiques est une nécessité de base. 🩸Éduquer les jeunes filles sur la préparation et la gestion de leurs règles est une nécessité. Briser le silence, la stigmatisation et la honte entourant les règles est une nécessité. Nous sommes toutes et tous interconnectés : chaque jeune fille est la fille de quelqu'un, chaque femme est la mère de quelqu'un ! Par conséquent, un « problème de femmes » n'est jamais seulement un problème de femmes.
🩸L'équité menstruelle doit concerner tous les genres et être reconnue comme un enjeu mondial.
Happy Menstrual Hygiene Day 2025 !
 #PeriodFriendlyWorld #Girl Now Woman Later

[GIRLNOWWOMANLATER @GNWL_INC]

🩸A Period is not the End it’s just the BEGINNING!

Dear sis/girl,
“🩸You have reached womanhood! Keep it to yourself because life goes on.”
That’s what I felt like when it first happened to me and other people would tell me this about my period. I will tell you that it is not how you should feel, or act because your womanhood needs to be celebrated. If not celebrated by others, then by you.
🩸You are precious just the way you are made. You will hear and see unpleasant attitudes or negative talk when you menstruate. However, you will keep your head up because you have nothing to be ashamed of.
🩸You are the future! Don’t be intimidated by the finger pointing ones because they do not matter. You need to be strong because they will try to bring you down when you have an accident like a stain on your garment. You need to keep your self-esteem.
🩸Whether you lack a cotton pad, remember that you can use a reusable pad, or be creative by making your own reusable pad as long as you keep it clean and dry. There will be periods when you don’t feel like going to school or doing anything.
🩸This is normal and just don’t think too much of it and find something to keep your mind busy rather than only focusing on your monthly, natural, and biological process. You can do any activity including reading, walking, spending time with a friend, and more. Because you will have your monthly friend and or visitor for quite some time during your lifetime, so you might as well enjoy it!🩸

Bienvenue Konsimbo-Founder -Girl Now Woman Later
Happy Menstrual Hygiene Day 2025!
#PeriodFriendlyWorld
#GirlNowWomanLater

[GIRLNOWWOMANLATER @GNWL_INC]

No borders or class system in menstruation equity
Diary of a female who menstruates in a not-so-distant place
I am female from an underdeveloped country who menstruates once a
month because I am empowered to do so! I may not be born from a rich family, nor that my environment was open in giving me the tools to learn about my body or celebrate my womanhood. I learned to be creative and resourceful. Whether I was taking a rugged cloth, assembling it myself, and reusing the cloth numerous times. I could not help myself to think why the people around me were or are appalled with discomfort about my PERIOD
Did I sin? Who are my judges? What gives them the power, or the right to point the finger at me, or to bring my confidence to a low level? Well, let me tell you this: It is already enough that I am not able to have proper access to feminine hygiene products, or adequate toilets at school in addition to other public places. It is already enough that I have to worry about making the
people around me feel comfortable and not being put off because I have to make sure that when I am menstruating that there are not any blood stains on my behind. To tell you the truth, I am exhausted from staring, or being the topic of conversation for no reason, except for your pleasure and entertainment. Guess What! This stigma and shame stop now because you gave me the strength to not care anymore! My period is my superpower.

Therefore, I am who I am! An unapologetic female who menstruates once a month
Menstrual Hygiene Month 2025! No borders or class system in menstruation equity

Diary of a female who menstruates in a not-so-distant place

I am female from an underdeveloped country who menstruates once a
month because I am empowered to do so! I may not be born from a rich family, nor that my environment was open in giving me the tools to learn about my body or celebrate my womanhood. I learned to be creative and resourceful. Whether I was taking a rugged cloth, assembling it myself, and reusing the cloth numerous times. I could not help myself to think why the people around me were or are appalled with discomfort about my PERIOD
Did I sin? Who are my judges? What gives them the power, or the right to point the finger at me, or to bring my confidence to a low level? Well, let me tell you this: It is already enough that I am not able to have proper access to feminine hygiene products, or adequate toilets at school in addition to other public places. It is already enough that I have to worry about making the
people around me feel comfortable and not being put off because I have to make sure that when I am menstruating that there are not any blood stains on my behind. To tell you the truth, I am exhausted from staring, or being the topic of conversation for no reason, except for your pleasure and entertainment. Guess What! This stigma and shame stop now because you gave me the strength to not care anymore! My period is my superpower.
Therefore, I am who I am! An unapologetic female who menstruates once a month
Menstrual Hygiene Day 2025! #PeriodFriendlyWorld #GirlNowWomanLater

#PeriodFriendlyWorld #GirlNowWomanLater

[GIRLNOWWOMANLATER @GNWL_INC]

Saturday, March 8th, 2025: International Women’s Day
More than a century has passed since IWD inception in 1911. There were/are certainly some progress, commitments, and new goals that have been made throughout the world. We cannot ignore those efforts as they have uplifted and transformed millions of women ‘s lives, careers, and rights in addition to education and status through space and time. Supporters of IWD come in all walks of life and we salute you for the commitment that you devoted to such a great cause! We also have to remind ourselves that the essence of speedy actions is at the utmost urgency and must start NOW! Long gone are the times for the first woman in a particular field, or position! Instead, let’s forge for more opportunities to impact a multiple of women simultaneously and not sporadically and across space in a single time!
Let’s be more supportive of gender equality! Because women's rights are human rights and are genderless and sexless! This year's IWD theme is #AccelerateAction, which calls for a yearlong collaboration based on collective efforts to achieve more impact!
Let’s move forward and TOGETHER!

Samedi 8 mars 2025: Journée Internationale de la Femme
Plus d’un siècle s’est écoulé depuis la création de la Journee Internationale de la Femme (JIF) en 1911. Il y a certainement eu / il y a certainement des progrès, des engagements et de nouveaux objectifs qui ont été faits dans le monde entier. Nous ne pouvons pas ignorer ces efforts, car ils ont élevé et transformé la vie, la carrière et les droits de millions de femmes, en plus de l’éducation et du statut, au-delà des frontières. Les sympathisants de la JIF viennent de tous les horizons et nous vous saluons pour l’engagement que vous avez consacré à une si grande cause! Nous devons également nous rappeler qu’il y a une urgence qui demande des actions rapides et qu’elles doivent commencer MAINTENANT! Il est loin le temps où la première femme occupait un domaine ou un poste particulier! Au lieu de cela, forgeons pour plus d’opportunités d’avoir un impact sur un multiple de femmes simultanément et non sporadiquement et à travers l’espace en un seul temps!
Soutenons davantage l’égalité des sexes! Parce que les droits des femmes sont des droits humains sans distinction de genre et de sexe!

Le thème de la JIF de cette année selon les Nations Unies « Pour TOUTES les femmes et les filles: droits, égalité et autonomisation. » qui appelle à une collaboration pendant une année sur des efforts collectifs pour obtenir plus d’impact!
Tous Ensemble! Nous Avancerons!
#IWD2025
#AccelerateAction
#GirlNowWomanLater
#GNWL

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✨GNWL 2025 Black History Month: Champions of Change
Every February, Black History Month is celebrated. As we remind ourselves, there are countless Black genius trailblazers that we probably don’t know about, or that we take for granted what they did that shaped culture, or humanity, Nonetheless, it's never too late to acknowledge these trailblazers and their impacts and contributions whether in February, or any other day!
✨Girl Now Woman Later recognizes and appreciates these two great women from different time and space who stood as an example of determination, multitalent, creation, perfection, stamina, and as role models to young girls and boys. Thus, the role models featured below, will remind us that one’s circumstance is not a barrier, but a power within: Alma Thomas and Aïda Touré

⭐️THEN: Alma Thomas
On September 22, 1891, Alma Thomas was born in Columbus, Georgia. Thomas's family wanted her and her siblings to have a better education and opportunities and to be free of racial violence. This motivation prompted them to move to Washington, DC. There, in 1924, she obtained an Art degree from Howard University and becoming the first to earn that degree, she then pursued teaching as an art teacher. However, she later made her way into becoming a respectable and notable abstract painter. Using colors to represent beauty and happiness became a style for which she was known for and compared with renowned expressionist artists such as Henri Matisse and Howard professor Loïs Mailou Jones.
✨Alma Thomas remembered her segregated childhood in not being able to visit a museum or see a representation. So, what did she do? Not only did she become the first Black woman at 81 years old to hold a solo exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art in 1972, but she also was a key figure and one of the benefactors in the establishment of the first African art Gallery known as ‘The Barnett-Aden Gallery”. On February 24, 1978, Alma Thomas passed away at the age of 86. Even past 1978, her legacies and contributions continue to be forever present.

⭐️NOW: AïdaTouré
Born in Gabon in 1973 to a Muslim father and Gabonese mother, AïdaTouré developed her multidimensional talents (Sufi poet, painter, and composer) by studying in France and New York City where she developed her talents as a Sufi poet first. Drawn by her culture and her upbringing, there is no surprise that Islam is present in her creativity as such. She has authored three Sufis poems (Unmanifest Poems, The Sublime Sphere and
Nocturnal Light).
✨Painting allows Aida to transcend her skills by bringing forms and visuals from the spirituality in her poems into an outlook of beauty. In 2015, her second expedition, “Luminous Dark Matter,” Aïda dedicated to Black History Month to honor the origin of creation showcasing Black women in ancient historical settings. Aïda has gained multiple awards under her belt, and she is featured in U.S. and Canada textbooks. Aida is an example of breaking barriers proving once again that a female can become a talented, or multi-talented woman, if allowed (and provided the opportunity) to do so!

#Trailblazer#AlmaThomas#AïdaTouré #activist#blackfemaleartists#blackcreativity#innovation
#girlnowwomanlater

Credits:
Alma Thomas | Smithsonian American Art Museum
https://t.co/KMAmUaETi7
Alma’s Photo: Portrait of Alma Thomas by Michael Fischer, 1976, via Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington D.C.
Aïda’s Photo: https://t.co/Dpu41cYGLy

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No Shame in menstruating! Menstrual Equity Partner Spotlight:
Last year, Girl Now Woman Later was so fortunate and grateful to welcome two new partnerships:
Too Little Children (@NoShamePeriod ) and The Pad Project!(@ThePadProject1
These organizations have stood as a beacon of hope and change in helping to make sure that girls in Low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) do not skip school simply because they lack period products, or the menstruation health education for them to manage their period while staying in school.
GNWL can’t thank you enough for the generous and kind donation you have given to our schoolgirls. Your support will go a long way to ensure that period truancyis no longer a barrier to school attendance and that period shame becomes history in Burkina Faso, West Africa. GNWL will also continue to strive in her mission to advance menstrual equity because it is the right thing to do!
We bleed because our bodies gave us that power! My period is my superpower!