Periods can be a troublesome business. Self-educated microenterpreneur A. Muruganantham had a dream: to reduce gynecological diseases among rural Indian women by having women make and sell affordable maxi pads in their own villages. Muruganantham had observed his wife’s monthly rituals and how finances forced her to choose between buying pads for herself or milk for their children. He decided to find a way to improve this situation, and overall sanitary conditions, by changing the habits of women who still used traditional methods—cloth, sand, husks, or ashes—to handle their sanitary needs. Through meticulous research of pad fabrication and factory processes, he created a pad that requires only four simple machines to make, all of which can be operated and repaired by village women. Muruganantham’s Rags to Pads program seeks to strip away superstitions and embarrassment while improving the lives of millions of women.  LB