Phoenix resident and founder of the Wireless Female Network, Valerie Naidoo was honoured and bestowed the prestigious Influential Women of The Year Award at a classy event held at iZulu Theatre in Sibaya Casino recently.
The coveted award celebrates unsung heroines who selflessly give off their time and efforts to uplift their communities as well as honours work done by non-profit organisations within the community. Naidoo walked down the red carpet along a powerhouse of phenomenal women, on 11 June, as they gathered for the award ceremony.
She said: “I am extremely proud to have received this prestigious award alongside some of the most esteemed, dynamic and powerful women in the province, who were acknowledged for their selfless acts of humanity. The Wireless Female Network received recognition for the work its been carrying out since 2018, in a field that is highly stigmatised – menstrual health management.”
Naidoo spoke about her quest to end period poverty. “Over two million South African girls live below the bread line as a result one in five girls miss out on three to five days of school during menstruation and some women face consequences of infections due to unhygienic practices used during menstruation,” said Naidoo.
She said the goal of the Wireless Female Network is to identify females from underprivileged and low income groups and provide them with sanitary packs. “Menstrual health is a taboo subject across different cultures and generations but the sad reality is that many of our women and girls are struggling in silence. The aim is to reach out to these women and girls across, draw awareness to the subject, get people to join forces to assist and start changing attitudes, to ultimately break the stigma attached and eliminate period poverty,” added Naidoo.
She further stated that the organisation’s long term goal is to reach out to females across the African continent and hopefully get to a point where women could start accessing sanitary towels for free. For more information on how you can get involved with the Wireless Female Network, contact Valerie Naidoo on 062 787 6266.
