Unlocking collective change through our most intimate connection to nature: our periods

We need women1 for climate justice.

The climate crisis affects all of us. So it will take all of us to change our course. Effective solutions that work for the many—not the few—come from diversity of thought, skills, and lived experiences. Yet gender inequity worldwide prevents women from being full participants in developing climate solutions, even as they bear the brunt of climate change.
A hand touches the fronds of a fern

OUR THEORy

Women are essential stakeholders in addressing the climate crisis because2:

Women are globally more dependent on natural resources for basic survival, and are often caretakers of water and soil. This firsthand knowledge is critical to the design of effective solutions.

In developed countries, women make the majority of consumer purchases3, many of which directly impact environmental and personal health.4

Women are more vulnerable to environmental degradation. From our bodies that uniquely store pollutants5 to representing more than 80% of climate refugees, women are disproportionately affected by environmental destruction.

It’s time for more women to lead in the highest government bodies and in our neighborhoods, schools, and workplaces.6 We have the solutions to avert global collapse, but we need diverse leaders who have the political will to take action and implement them.

There’s a reason why women are so burned out.

At the same time we need women to lead, many of them are experiencing a well-being crisis that prevents them from sustaining action or showing up at all.

The same systems that pushed our planet to the brink have harmed women. And the solutions women are offered for their well-being often reinforce those systems, rather than resolve the underlying causes.

Across the globe, women are struggling with hormonal imbalance, from painful periods or debilitating PMS, to disorders like thyroid conditions and PCOS, to adrenal fatigue. It’s easy to think of these issues as normal, because they have become common; 61% of women we surveyed reported experiencing PMS. 59% have experienced burnout. And 57% view stress as having a high impact on their daily lives.7 But despite what we’ve been told, suffering is not a required part of having a period.

Here’s the real issue: Women are unwell as a result of trying to function within sexist, oppressive systems that were designed for and by men. (The same systems that made our planet unwell, too.)8

What this looks like in practice

Women are deprived of the basic menstrual cycle literacy that would help them care and advocate for their health.9 Our menstrual cycle is a vital sign of our health10, and yet we’re often only taught how to manage our bleed.

When women do seek help, they don’t always get the care they need. From a history of exclusion in clinical trials11 to ongoing unequal investment in women’s health research12, the medical establishment doesn’t always have the knowledge to provide us with sufficient care.

Gender norms disproportionately expose women to toxins. Women receive high exposure to chemicals, both from household cleaners and the personal products we’re sold to conform to cultural beauty expectations.13

Women are overextended and under-resourced, often going from a 9-5 workday optimized for the male 24-hour testosterone cycle14 to the second shift at home.15 It’s no wonder that women in the US are twice as likely to have taken antidepressants.16

While women share many of these experiences to some degree, women with overlapping marginalized identities, including sexual orientation, gender identity, race, ability, body size, economic level, and more, are often more severely affected.
A woman leans against a window looking sad

The “solutions” we’re given aren’t actually helping us.

Just like the stories we’re told that we can solve the climate crisis by reducing our carbon footprints or through “conscious consumption”, the many solutions women are being sold for their well-being often sustain the extractive systems that contributed to our health and environmental issues in the first place:

Self-help leaves women preoccupied with the need to “fix” themselves and distracts them from their inherent wholeness.

Productivity culture tells them doing more is the only way to feel better, when the real solution is doing less.

Many “wellness” products create harm. Like unethically mined crystals17, indigenous plant medicine sold without context or respect18, and superfoods transported from far-off places.19 All have social and environmental consequences.

As women, we need to both take accountability for the harm we’ve perpetuated, and meet ourselves with mindful self-compassion. We must learn from our missteps to find a better way forward. Especially as they reveal an important through line: women searching for hope and a renewed connection to the land.

It’s time for self-care and “planet-care” to grow up. The solution to these crises cannot be bought. We need deep change to create new systems that support the well-being of every body: ourselves, our communities, and our planet.

A field full of blooming yellow sunflowers

What beautiful solutions might emerge if women were truly resourced to care for ourselves and our planet?

A watering can showers a green vegetable garden
Shadows of small white flowers on the arm of a woman laying in the grass

The key to solving these crises is addressing them together.

At Sister Seasons, we integrate menstrual cycle awareness practices with nature’s cycles, so women and our planet can move toward lasting well-being. It’s an innovative approach that draws from science, systems thinking, ancient wisdom traditions, and the groundwork laid by pioneering menstrual educators.20 Importantly, it moves away from self-focused self-care to help women see how their healing can happen in the context of their communities and nature. (What we call “Mutually Inclusive Well-Being.”)

As these dual crises are intricately connected, we knew we needed a solution that addresses them both. The journey starts with helping women and menstruators cultivate their understanding of their most intimate connection to nature: their period.

WHAT WE MEAN

  • The 4 phases of the menstrual cycle—when healthy—mirror the 4 natural seasons, showing how our menstrual cycles are a microcosm of patterns in our universe.

  • Our “period problems” mirror our planet’s “climate change problems”, which means women and menstruators intimately know what the planet is experiencing right now.

By discovering how their bodies mirror the patterns of nature, menstruators learn an accessible framework for taking care of their well-being and develop a personal connection to climate change that can guide their actions.

Because while practicing cyclical awareness with our menstrual cycles alone can be helpful in improving our own well-being, we can only begin to improve our collective well-being when we also align with the cycles of the natural world.

Let’s Keep The Conversation Going

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  • 1 We use the word “women” because it’s the terminology used by the majority of our sources. But in our observations, these experiences are commonly shared by all self-identified women and menstruators.

    2 We are indebted to Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN) for their generous resources that have helped us identify many of the facts included in this section. You can access related reports and donate to them at “Why Women”.

    3 Between direct purchasing and influencing, women are responsible for 83% of consumption in the US. Learn more in Catalyst’s “Quick Take: Buying Power” (2020).

    4 Discover the environmental and personal health impacts of products marketed to women on the Women’s Voices for the Earth website.

    5 Alisa Vitti shares more about xenoestrogens and their effect on women in her book WomanCode.

    6 Our definition of the term “leader” is influenced by Tara Mohr’s Playing Big work. Being a leader doesn’t have to be a formal role. It can also be how we show up in our spheres of influence. We believe it’s up to women to discover what leadership means to them.

    7 Based on results of a survey Sister Seasons conducted in January 2020 of 104 female-identifying individuals over age 18.

    8 Alisa Vitti introduced us to the idea that patriarchal systems affect women’s health. Osprey Orielle Lake of WECAN expanded our understanding by bringing our attention that violence against women rises both after natural disasters and with the arrival of extractive industries, highlighting parallel oppression of women and nature.

    9 To discover all the components of menstrual health, we recommend this read: “Menstrual health: a definition for policy, practice, and research” (2021).

    10 In 2015, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists released a recommendation that the menstrual cycle be recognized as a critical window into the health of girls. Read the statement: “Menstruation in Girls and Adolescents: Using the Menstrual Cycle as a Vital Sign”.

    11 The Society of Women’s Health Research has helpful resources on the history of this exclusion and how things are changing.

    12 To this day, women’s health is lacking necessary attention and resources. Learn more about gender inequity in health care funding: Gender Disparity in the Funding of Diseases by the U.S. National Institutes of Health (2021).

    13 In 2015, journalist Amy Westervelt reported that “women use twice as many personal care products as men.” Read the risks this poses to women’s health on The Guardian’s website: Not so pretty: women apply an average of 168 chemicals every day.

    14 To learn more, we recommend Alisa Vitti’s book In The Flo.

    15 Sociologist Arlie Hochschild coined the term, “The Second Shift”.

    16 Here’s the CDC data we’re referencing: Antidepressant Use Among Persons Aged 12 and Over: United States, 2011–2014 (2017).

    17 The Guardian article “Dark crystals: the brutal reality behind a booming wellness craze” illustrates the disconnect between healing claims and harmful sourcing.

    18 There are so many leaders who teach the respect and preservation of Indigenous ways, especially as it relates to environmental conservation. A few we turn to include Linda Black Elk, Felicia Cocotzin Ruiz, Tara Houska, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Indigenous Women Hike, and Seeding Sovereignty.

    19 Superfoods can have a positive impact on your health and a negative social and environmental impact: Environmental and social consequences of the increase in the demand for ‘superfoods’ world-wide (2020).

    20 Special thanks to Alexandra Pope, Sjanie Hugo-Wurlitzer, Alisa Vitti, and Nicole Jardim who introduced us to menstrual cycle awareness.