Sudima Hotels, a sustainability, diversity and accessibility leader in the accommodation and hospitality sector, is adding to its socially conscious credentials with a new partnership that will stock feminine hygiene products in all four of the group’s hotels.
Ahead of International Women’s Day on March 8, the company is working with Organic Initiative to make organic cotton pads and tampons freely available in all guest rooms, adding to those already available to staff in all staff rooms, in Sudima Hotels properties at Auckland Airport, Rotorua, Christchurch Airport and Christchurch City, along with the two new hotels opening later this year in the Auckland CBD and Kaik≈çura.
The move makes Sudima Hotels one of the first hotel groups in New Zealand to provide feminine hygiene products (and healthy, biodegradable products) free of charge to staff and guests.
“We want to make feminine hygiene products part of normal conversation and as accessible and available as any other item meant for human hygiene, like soap or toilet paper,” says Vedika Jhunjhnuwala, executive director – projects at Sudima Hotels and an experienced environmental and social advocate.
“Toilet paper is free in public bathrooms and workplaces to accommodate natural bodily functions, yet period products, which also serve a natural bodily function, are not free. Girls and women should not have any difficulty accessing these products or any shame or discomfort attached to talking about them or using them.
“We know period poverty is a real issue which can hinder low-income girls and women from regularly attending school and work, because the cost of menstrual products can be prohibitive,” she says.
“While this has not been – to our knowledge – a significant issue for staff or guests in our hotels, we believe all girls and women should have easy access to sanitary items throughout New Zealand, not just in accommodation experiences, so we are taking steps towards a more inclusive and equal society and we encourage other businesses and government to do the same.
“Sudima Hotels has a commitment to accessibility across all our properties, and through this partnership with Oi, which has a strong track record in health and sustainability and a commitment to combining great technology with natural pure ingredients, we are pleased to be making organic personal hygiene products for women freely accessible.”
Oi is led by CEO Helen Robinson, who says Sudima Hotels is an ideal partner to the Organic Initiative brand. “Sudima Hotels is leading from the front as a business that invests in sustainability and thinks about creative and environmentally progressive ways to make life better for its staff and guests, and we are proud to have our products featured and freely available across the hotel group.”
