ABOUT
LARA OWEN
DETAILS
BIOGRAPHY
Lara Owen was born and educated in the UK, and studied history at the University of Warwick, with a focus on women and feminism. After graduation, she trained and worked in the UK and China in traditional Chinese medicine, specialising in women’s health. In her early twenties she began to study menstruation in what has turned out to be a lifetime project. She researched historical and cross-cultural perspectives, sought out and interviewed women who experienced menstruation as a powerful, under-acknowledged process in their lives, and researched practical solutions including reusable menstrual products.
Lara’s first article, The Sabbath of Women, a summary of this early research, was published in 1991, followed two years later by the book, Her Blood Is Gold (HarperCollins 1993, Archive Publishing 2008, 2022). She did further fieldwork in populations known for specific menstrual beliefs and practices, including Orthodox Jews and the Navajo Nation. Since then she has done research on menstruation, menopause and women’s wellbeing for non-profits, social enterprises, arts organizations, government departments, global institutions and multinational corporations. In 2015 she completed a two year full-time mixed methods project investigating the attitudes and experiences of women and girls internationally, including speaking with more than 500 women and girls in Australian schools, homes and workplaces. From 2016-2020 she was based in the Business School at Monash University, teaching and researching in Organization Studies. Her PhD thesis explored the uptake of the menstrual cup and the menstrual workplace policy. Since 2020 she has been academically based at the University of St Andrews, where she was awarded a Research Fellowship and is now an Honorary Research Fellow.
Lara has given keynotes, presentations, lecture series and workshops at universities, colleges and other institutions in Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, England, France, Italy, Ireland, the Netherlands, Scotland and the USA. She has appeared on BBC TV and radio along with many other stations in the UK, US and Australia. Her work has been positively reviewed and featured in a wide range of newspapers and magazines in the UK, US, Europe, Australia and Latin America. In recent years she has been interviewed by many outlets including the ABC in Australia, BBC Woman’s Hour in the UK, BBC Capital in the U.S., the London Financial Times, Stern magazine in Germany, and Spain’s El Periódico de España.
Lara is a founding member of the UK-based interdisciplinary Menstruation Research Network (currently funded by the Wellcome Trust), and an ongoing member of the US-based Society for Menstrual Cycle Research. Her recent research and writing has been supported by grants from the Scottish Funding Council, the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and the Society of Authors. She advises various organizations, and is currently a consultant for the ISO International Standard on menstruation and menopause in the workplace. Lara teaches a Master’s level course in Contemporary Menstrual Studies to students worldwide. Her latest book, Reorganizing Menstruation: Menstrual innovations and the redistribution of boundaries, capitals, and labour, was published by Oxford University Press in 2024.
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