Isobel Marshall and Eloise Hall

How do two 17-year-old school girls, with a passion for a global social enterprise, turn their dream into reality and a thriving business? And why focus on period poverty and menstruation products?

The 2021 Young Australian of the Year, Isobel Marshall, and her ‘bestie’, Eloise Hall, are using the power of their Australian privilege to do something super practical, and push back against a pervasive gender inequity.

In 2017 these extraordinarily enterprising women founded Taboo, a bold new player in the menstrual hygiene market. But it’s no ordinary company. Not only do they pour 100 per cent of their sales profit into global community programs that empower girls through sanitary care and education, but none of their own staff take a wage. As for sustainability, well, they’ve thought that through too! In fact, for newbies in the world of business and funds raising, they’re surprisingly sassy.

Now aged 21, Isobel is studying medicine and Eloise is full throttle into business and international studies. With some fascinating insights, our discussion on BroadTalk dives into the myriad gender issues that have grabbed media headlines in early 2021, particularly around the hyper sexualisation of school girls, and the growing movement to end rape culture and deep-rooted sexism within the Australian parliament.

In this series of BroadTalk, journalist Virginia Haussegger tackles both policy and the personal issues around gender equality, as she asks are we there yet? And if not, why not.

BroadTalk is produced by Martyn Pearce. You can find more BroadTalk discussion on our Facebook group, the BroadTalk RoundTable. Or on Twitter @Virginia_Hauss #BroadTalk

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