Adelaide friends Isobel Marshall/Eloise Hall start TABOO to ease menstruation stigma with education benefits

Isobel Marshall as 2021 Young Australian of the Year and (inset) with TABOO partner Eloise Hall teaching at a rural school in Kenya.
Main image courtesy Australian Of The Year Awards

Isobel Marshall was named 2021 Young Australian of the Year for helping disadvantaged women access personal hygiene products and improving education for women in Africa.

At 18, Marshall founded TABOO in 2017 with her Adelaide suburban school friend Eloise Hall to help women around the world by breaking down stigma around menstruation and providing access to hygiene products. TABOO sold ethically sourced cotton pads and tampons in Australia, with funds going to One Girls – a charity providing education to girls and women in Sierra Leone and Uganda. Nearly a third of girls dropped out of school when periods began.

Accepting the award, Marshall said period poverty was real: “Menstruation, the natural biological function experienced by half the world’s population is still a major reason for inequality. Menstrual stigma needs to be addressed as a community and a movement of people who want to change the conversation, and make people feel more comfortable about this. Periods should not be a barrier to education. They should not cause shame, and menstrual products should be accessible and affordable. They are not a luxury or a choice." Australia was not immune, with girls sent to school without sanitary products.

Marshall was about to enter her final year of high school in suburban Adelaide when she and her best friend Hall came up with an idea to tackle two taboos: menstrual stigma and period poverty. After graduating, the pair took a gap year, turned to crowdfunding and developed their brand. TABOO that won a start-up competition run by the City of Unley. After working to create community support for their business, they crowdfunded $56,000 to launch their products in 2019.

Marshall was studying to become a doctor at Adelaide University when she received the award.  She was focusing on the health and education side of TABOO while Hall concentrated on developing the business.