Dignity Dreams wins awarded Glamour's Women of the Year award

The Glamour Awards are hosted by Glamour magazine every year to honour extraordinary and inspirational women from a variety of fields, including entertainment, business, sports, music, science, education and politics.

Making a huge difference in the day-to-day lives of school girls

Dignity Dreams focuses on helping South Africa's schoolgirls meet their personal hygiene requirements. The company provides reusable sanitary towels which can be used for four years, making a huge difference in the day-to-day lives of school girls.

"I am honoured to have won this award, and would like to thank Glamour for recognising Dignity Dreams and its efforts to provide our packs to school girls, create employment for the women who make the pads, and be environmentally friendly," Millar says.

Millar recognised that a high number of girls stay away from school one week a month because they can't afford to buy sanitary towels or tampons. Making the most of her 19 years' experience from working in welfare, she set up Dignity Dreams just over one year ago.

The company began delivering colourful packs of washable pads and panties nationwide, complementing its product with educational talks. Dignity Dreams also provides jobs for previously unemployed women and is a green NPO with a low carbon footprint.

Each Dignity Dreams pack consists of one colourful drawstring poly cotton bag, six washable absorbent pads, three pairs of panties and an instruction sheet. The pads consist of two layers of absorbent towelling, one layer of waterproof plastic and one layer of poly cotton.

"The pads are fully washable and reusable, and can be used with any type of panty," Millar says. "They are comfortable, environmentally friendly and easy to use and care for."

In addition to schoolgirls aged 10 and above, Dignity Dreams is targeting varsity students, working mothers, caregivers, mothers who have recently given birth and frail, elderly women. Based in Gauteng, the company will be establishing an operation in the Western Cape in December this year.

Dignity Dreams sends out regular newsletters to schools, inviting them to complete a form to indicate the need. Staff then take the packs to the school, tell the girls how the product works, and show them how to use the pads.

"We start with 10-year-old students because ideally, a girl's first experience should be with our packs," Millar says.

Other South African recipients of this year's Glamour Women of the Year awards include Thuli Mandonsela, Kim Engelbrecht and Lynette Ntuli.