Menstrual surveillance: the distorted use of apps for the period

Try to imagine an app created to track the menstrual cycle, but which, in practice, is manipulated by companies to monitor their employees and their fertility. No, this is not the plot of a new dystopian novel. Unfortunately it is reality, declined in its worst form.

It is called menstrual surveillance and it is a phenomenon that involves the Femtech sector, feminine technology, the technology designed for the woman who wants to have control over her sexual health. The expression was coined by the creator of Clue, one of the most popular applications for monitoring the progress of one's menstrual cycle.

But what does this infamous menstrual surveillance consist of? In essence, companies buy the data processed by these digital tools at a high price to collect information regarding the habits of their employees. In this way, an employer is able to gain a general overview of the number of workers intending to become pregnant, with high-risk pregnancies rather than menopause and use the information collected at will, for example by avoiding hiring indefinitely. or by denying a promotion to a woman wishing to become a mother. This perverse practice was brought to light by an investigation conducted by the Washington Post in 2019 which revealed how users' privacy would be anything but protected.

It happened in America and the offending app bears the name of Ovia Health, a brand that deals with feminine health and hygiene, with particular attention to women's fertility and ovulation. Employees of various companies would even have suffered a certain psychological pressure from the upper floors to take advantage of the services offered by the aforementioned brand. Despite the anonymity, crossing the data, it is far from difficult to be able to obtain percentages and, in smaller companies, even identify employees.

And so here we are again, another wasted opportunity to be on the side of women, protagonists of yet another episode of gender discrimination in the world of work. We do not lose hope, but in the meantime we pay more attention when accepting the terms and conditions of privacy.