ENACT Research and Advocacy Fellows advocate for menstrual equity
March 2026
This spring, ENACT Research and Advocacy Fellows have approached menstrual equity advocacy from several angles. Over the past month, they've hosted multiple events on and off campus.
First, the ENACT Research and Advocacy Fellows and Student club Period Activists at Deis (PAD) co-hosted Periods are Political, an educational tabling event in the Shapiro Campus Center at Brandeis in March. Attendees learned about menstrual equity, managing menstruation, and explored ways to use their voices for community and legislative change. Students wrote postcards to state legislators, and hygiene care packages were given to winners of a menstrual equity trivia game. Congratulations to Sofia Signes ‘29 (pictured at left), who won the raffle, which included a menstruation management care package!
The ENACT Research and Advocacy Fellows also hosted a Menstrual Equity Gallery Walk at the Women’s Studies Research Center during which participants engaged with original art pieces created by the Fellows, based upon findings from their fall interviews with Brandeis students about how they manage menstruation on campus. The gallery walk emphasized how art can communicate complex social issues and inspire advocacy, and created a space for dialogue, education, and creative expression. "Using creativity and art as an outlet to disseminate information can be just as, if not more, effective than by traditional means” said Sophia Scribner ‘28 pictured with ENACT Research and Advocacy Fellow, Diana Sola Chacon ‘26 (l-r).
Off campus, ENACT Research and Advocacy Fellows Chloe Morales, Lola Hamilton, Monica Claros, and Alyson Chavez Valdivieso presented to a Waltham Middle School Civics Class about their research and advocacy experiences over the past nine months. Fellows discussed the results of their fall menstrual management interviews with Brandeis students and the power of active listening in both research and advocacy.
ENACT Research and Advocacy Fellows and students from the ENACT class “Gender, Justice, and Legislation” (LGLS 118) participated in the Mass NOW Advocacy Day at the Massachusetts State House alongside legislative champions and other menstrual equity activists. Students shared their research results with legislators in an effort to drive forward evidence-based policies in the Commonwealth. “Advocacy days make engagement possible by bringing citizens, advocates, and legislators into the same space,” said Jimin Geum ‘29. “In doing so, they transform democracy from something distant and procedural into something participatory and relational.”