The following list depicts three companies whose female founders saw a gap in the market, had an idea, and turned it into a product that helps women’s bodies stay strong.

Unlike some popular tampon and sanitary pads companies who have men at the top of the business, these products are made by the people who would be the consumer of the products. Whether it’s hormone health or wet wipes that help your pH, these ladies have got you covered.

 

1. Emerita

Emerita was founded by women in 1978. The women of the company saw and seized the opportunity to offer women advice and solutions from those who understand the wants of the consumer the best: other females.

Emrita itself focuses on mid-life health problems that are able to be resolved in natural and ethical ways. The catalog for the company became popular after having been introduced on the TV show Sex and the City. Emerita is known for their progesterone product, but they also offer a kit to heal yeast infections, moisturizers, and Estriol cream.

 

2. Sweet Spot Labs

Sweet Spot Labs is run and founded by two female estheticians for the purpose of inventing a pre-wax and post-wax routine, as well as to market a daily cleansing routine for a woman’s “sweet spot.”

Sweet Spot Labs’ product focus is vaginal health by the creation of wipes and washes in a variety of scents, like vanilla and grapefruit. The company targets a younger audience with fresh and colorful interface and flirty graphics. When you click on a product, the ingredients making up the product are listed in an easy to read, large font. The women of this company clearly had their college-aged selves in mind when composing the product.

 

3. DivaCup

The DivaCup is another female-run business that took off in 2001. Francine Chambers’ goal with the stating of this product was to make a sustainable hygiene product, and came up with the menstrual cup. Now there are plenty of other options on the market, but this woman drove the market for this product for a decade and educated women on the possibilities on a different way to ‘manage’ one’s period. Now she runs the empire with her daughter Carinne.

 

The women of Emerita, Sweet Spot Labs, and The DivaCup took charge of the situation and chose to put a product that wanted on the market as opposed to waiting for it to appear. They took charge and became entrepreneurs. In 2004, women owned 10.6 million businesses in the United States. That sounds like a lot. However, a 2010 report concluded that women owned 30% of all privately held businesses but make up only 11% of sales.

Women in the fashion industry get more coverage than female-run health companies, but that doesn’t mean that there are more females in the fashion industry. While there are certainly more in the UK than in the US, that doesn’t discount that female executives are rare, and are more often found in lower positions. They are all opening up the health field, spear-heading progress, and opening avenues for females within business.

Cover image courtesy of Shutterstock.

By Jacqueline Wostrel on April 12, 2016
Jacqueline (Jackie) Wostrel is an editorial intern at HelloFlo, founder of the book blog No Bent Spines, and illustrator of the children’s book Hearts and Butterflies. She enjoys long walks to the book store, political debates, cheese plates, and dreaming of all the countries she has yet to explore. In the fall she’ll go to the University of Houston for Journalism and Hotel Restaurant Management.