Female tech entrepreneurs still face obstacles in getting the support and funding their male counterparts do, with just 10% of global venture-round funding going to companies founded by women. But while these apps are everywhere now, it hasn’t been an easy journey. Proponents of period apps say they are chipping away at the prejudices and misinformation that prevent women talking and thinking about their menstrual cycle. You can now find smart apps and devices to track anything from fitness to how your baby is developing and the current trend suggests the more we track, the safer we feel. These apps have their fans and their critics but their inclusion in an already crowded tech marketplace points to a rise in the use of data to help us understand ourselves better and improve our lives – the so-called Quantified Self movement. Since 2014, there’s been an explosion in the market and currently 100 million women worldwide use dedicated period tracking apps for health, self awareness, fertility insights and pregnancy planning. In the early part of the twentieth century, when the infamous rhythm method was popular, a proliferation of graphs, wheels, slide rules and other analogue devices were created by engineers and doctors in an effort to make conception more controllable.īut we’ve come a long way since the 1930s’ tech of Gilbert Tilmore’s cardboard Rythmeter. When the health tracking app, Apple HealthKit launched in 2014 without the functionality to track or record periods there was a sharp and audible intake of breath from at least half of the general public: how was it that such a central part of women’s health had been left out of this supposedly comprehensive health monitoring service?Īfter all, period tracking and period calendars are nothing new. As modern woman is likely to have almost 300 more menstrual cycles in her lifetime than her pre-agricultural society counterpart all that extra flow has given us a lot more to mull over. From the best time to conceive to whether you’re likely to feel bloated at your brother’s wedding next month, the latest period tracker apps are tapping into the wealth of information we can glean not just from the time of the month, but throughout our cycle.Īnd in a way, it’s hardly surprising. In the last few years, however, there has been an outpouring of interest from all quarters in what our periods can tell us (and perhaps more worryingly, tell others – more on that later). At Mooncup we’ve always been fascinated by periods.
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