Women’s health is at the center of what we do at Good Clean Love®. From our Bio-Match® patented technology to extensive healthcare sampling program, our company is known for going above and beyond for women. That’s why joining the Change for Women Collective was an easy decision for our founder, Wendy Strgar. It just made sense. As a woman-owned B Corporation, Good Clean Love fits right in with the ever-growing list of entrepreneurs seeking real change. Social responsibility doesn’t just mean good products but good business, too. We are honored to support the efforts of the Change for Women Collective and can’t wait for you to learn about their mission.
Q: When did the Change for Women Collective launch?
A: We launched our collective on March 8th 2017, in celebration of International Women’s Day.
Q: How does it work?
A: Change for Women is a collective of creative leaders and businesses standing together to make a difference by supporting the protection of health, human rights, and equality for women and girls everywhere.
Our goal is to collectively raise awareness, fund, and support a wide range of incredible local and global non-profit organizations who are working on the front lines to address the key issues that present barriers to equality for women all over the world. We hope to create a tightly-woven community of compassionate businesses that can support each other by spreading the word and pledging their financial commitment to at least one of the hand-selected 18 organizations.
We are a collective full of strong voices that only gets louder when we combine efforts!
Q:What inspired you to organize such an initiative? Where did the idea for a ‘collective’ come from?
A: The idea started when we learned that thousands of health programs throughout the world would lose out on billions of dollars in essential funding due to shifting U.S. policies. We’ve always proudly supported causes working to improve maternal health and healthy births in developing countries, but we have been shaken to the core at the level of oppression and discrimination that is currently decimating the lives of hundreds of millions of women and girls throughout the world.
And with the lingering effects of gender inequality right here in the U.S. still as prevalent as ever, enough is enough. We’re jumping into action.
There are so many women doing incredible work in these areas. We couldn’t help but be moved by the collaboration between Elizabeth Gilbert, Glennon Doyle Melton, and others with The Compassion Collective—truly profound women collaborating for what matters most.
Q: Why should other businesses join the Change for Women Collective?
A: A better question is why shouldn’t they?! With total control over their individual donation and a vast number of organizations to choose from, it’s a no brainer! Running a business is so much work and it is easy to lose sight of our philanthropic responsibilities, but working together in a collective creates accountability, shared resources, and community. And, working with other businesses can open doors for all of us…from partnerships and giveaways to shared content, we all stand to gain something from relationship building, along with the deep satisfaction of making an impact.
Q: Where do you see the collective ten years from now?
A: The future of the collective depends greatly on the future of the world. In a perfect scenario, ten years from now we will have to shift our focus after our work with Change for Women eradicates the causes on our platform! Until then, we are committed to doing what we can to bring awareness to these issues and work toward a safe, fair, and healthy planet for us all to share.
Q: There is an extensive list of facts and issues compiled on ChangeforWomen.org. Is there a particular issue or fact that stands out to you personally?
A: While I feel that all the issues listed on our fact page impact women (and the world) tremendously, at Hyperbiotics we are passionate about microbial health, and since gut health starts at birth, issues involving maternal health, safe childbirth, and breastfeeding are the most dear to our hearts.
Below are a few specific facts to highlight these issues:
- More than 800 women die every day from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth, and only half of pregnant women receive the appropriate amount of prenatal care. What’s more, the issue isn’t just in developing countries—the U.S. ranks 60th worldwide in maternal health.
- 98% of maternal deaths are preventable.
- The U.S. is one of 13 countries with a rising maternal mortality rate.
- If every child was breastfed within an hour of birth, breastfed exclusively for the first six months of life, and continued up to age two, about 800,000 children’s lives would be saved every year and millions of children would have the gift of improved health.
- Only 13% of U.S. workers have access to paid parental leave.
We believe every being is entitled to a healthy start in life and access to quality prenatal and postnatal healthcare is of utmost importance.
Interview courtesy of Jamie Morea
Founder of The Change for Women Collective
