Let’s talk about “Period Poverty”!
According to the American Medical Women’s Association, the term ‘‘period poverty’’ refers to the lack of proper accessibility and limited affordability of menstrual health and hygiene resources including educational tools, sanitary products, washing facilities, and waste management. (Lea Sacca, 2024)
Here is a bit of data addressing period poverty in our country:
According to a national survey drawn from a survey conducted on 1,000 teens aged 13 to 19, 1 in 5 teens in the US have struggled with affording menstrual products and more than 84 percent of participants reported having missed classes or know someone who has missed classes due to lack of access to period products.
Fun fact: 79 percent of the participants believed we receive more education about biology of frogs than biology of the human female body in school.
How do we take action to help with making period products and period education equally and easily accessible to everyone? What steps of the organizations where we work and study have taken?
In this blog, I’ll be gathering and sharing information about the steps, however small, we can take to reduce period poverty where we live, where we study, and where we work. I will also be gathering and sharing information about the steps University of Washington and Cascadia Community College have taken to minimize period poverty among their students.
What University of Washington Bothell and Cascadia College provide:
The Health and Wellness Resources Center (HaWRC) provides a variety of non-reusable menstrual products for students for free. Both UW and Cascadia students can have access to this source.
For Cascadia Students, Kodiak Cave offers tampons and pads in their food pantry for students to take during their four trips to the Cave each quarter. They also sometimes provide other products that have been donated, like diva cups or lite liners. The Kodiak Cave specialist, Samantha Brown, with whom I had a conversation, also provided me with an Amazon wish list through which you can see the available products in their pantry and buy the products where they will be automatically delivered to the pantry.
Cascadia College also shares a document including the addresses and contact information of multiple local community services that provide food, healthcare, housing, childcare, clothing, etc. to individuals who need them.
Moreover, in both UWB and CC, tampons and pads are accessible in gender inclusive and women’s restrooms.
How we can help minimize period poverty inside or outside of our school:
Purchase feminine hygiene products manufacturers that help fight peiod poverty.
A list of these manufacturers are:
This company has donated 24 million feminine care products so far.
“We believe everyone should have access to period care–full stop.”
With every purchase you make, Cora provides period products and body literacy resources to people who might otherwise go without.
You can also help support organizations who aim to minimize period poverty by ensuring that more and more menstruating individuals have access to affordable menstrual products. You can support these organizations by donating or participating in volunteer and advocacy opportunities they provide.
Here is a list of these organizations and how each of them provides opportunities for us to take a step in minimizing period poverty:
Days for Girls:
“We increase access to menstrual care and education by developing global partnerships, cultivating Social Enterprises, mobilizing volunteers and innovating sustainable solutions that shatter stigma and limitations for women and girls.”
Days for Girls provides holistic menstrual health education, helps increase the accessibility of menstrual products for all individuals, trains Social Entrepreneurs and partners with government and health organizations to advances global menstrual equity.
In order to support this organization, you can
- Donate: You can donate funds either once or on a monthly basis or you can donate products to people who need them, through DfG’s website. DfG provides various other ways to donate on their website including creating your own fundraiser or donating your wedding registry. You can check all donating options through their website: https://www.daysforgirls.org/ways-to-give/
- Another way to get involved with DfG is through connecting to a DfG team in your area, or even better than that, to start a club in your school/college that partners with DfG. This can be an opportunity for you to join in on advocacy efforts to influence positive change for minimizing period poverty within your own school. You can also contribute to DfG’s mission through organizing fundraising events.
This webpage includes registration forms that you can fill out in order to start a club or a team: https://www.daysforgirls.org/how-dfg-volunteers-work/
Bloody Good Period:
“We give period products to those who can’t afford them and provide reproductive health education to those less likely to access it. And we help everybody talk about periods!“
The three main missions of this organization is to Deliver, Educate, and Normalize. There are several ways through which you can contribute to their mission.
- To help Deliver, you can donate once, on a monthly basis, or annually. You can also help with organizing fundraising activities. Some ways BGP suggests for fundraising are:
- Buying a period quiz and playing it with friends, colleagues, and family,
- Selling the closet items you are not wearing anymore and donating the money to BGP,
- Organizing a bake-sale event and fundraising,
- Organizing a club in your school or college through which you can start small fundraising events for BGP,
- AND, many other ways you can contribute to their mission. BGP shares these wonderful and fun fundraising suggestions on this file: https://www.bloodygoodperiod.com/_files/ugd/0977fb_10ebf18d96ae4ff0af8bda09313893f5.pdf
- To help Educate, you can become or invite a professional you know to become a Medical Volunteer who partners with BGP to lead 1.5 hour educational sessions focusing on Menstrual, Sexual and Reproductive Health. Although unfortunately BGP currently doesn’t take any further applications for other volunteering opportunities, they suggest you to sign up for their newsletter to stay updated on the upcoming volunteering opportunities.
- To help Normalize, share posts on your social media accounts and use #PeriodPenalty hashtag. One example hashtag posts shared on BGP website is:
“I find it extremely difficult because I get quite bad PMS with regards to emotion and my male manager thinks it is okay to ridicule me for this whilst also managing to say it is fake. So I would only ever talk about menstruation with my female colleague, never with male leadership”
Sustainable Health Enterprises (SHE):
“SHE is helping women jump-start social businesses to manufacture and distribute affordable menstrual pads. Coupled with health education and advocacy, girls and women will have even more productive lives than before.”
This organization approaches minimizing period poverty through Debunking Stereotypes, Reclaiming Local Resources, Investing in New Ideas and People, and Launching Entrepreneurs to Improve Lives.
Tons of trunk fiber is thrown away by banana farmers in Rwanda every year. SHE provides these farmers with equipment and training, so that they can process and sell the trunk fibers to them. Then, SHE takes the processed fibers to their community factory to be cut, carded, washed, fluffed, and solar dried under a US Patent approved manufacturing process. The manufactured menstrual pads are sold at an affordable price to schools and individuals who need them! They also “debunk myths and taboos” about periods through health and hygiene education in schools and community.
If you are willing to contribute to SHE’s mission, you can join in their SHE28 campaign by making one-time or monthly donations through their website.
A Final “Period” Note:
Menstruation, a natural yet painful experience endured by half of the world’s population, remains steeped in stigma. Body shaming and societal taboos have isolated many menstruating individuals, leaving them uninformed about their own bodies and proper care. To make living with period as close to convenience as possible, specialized hygiene products are essential, but their accessibility remains a global challenge. High-quality and sustainable options, often deemed luxurious in many places around in the world, are financially out of reach for too many.
It is also important to acknowledge that, “Not all women menstruate, and not all menstruators are women.” It’s necessary to recognize the diversity of menstruating individuals beyond traditional gender norms and respect all experiences of menstruation.
Lack of reproductive health education perpetuates cycles of pain, illness, and inequality, and a world with inequality for half of its population is similar to a bird with an injured wing, unable to soar.
Our collective responsibility lies in removing these barriers. Through awareness, education, and providing accessible products, we can foster a world where menstruation is understood and managed without shame or obstacle. Each small step towards equity strengthens all humanity.
Citations:
Sacca, L. (2024). Period Poverty in U.S. College Students. Journal of Women’s Health (Larchmont, N.Y. 2002), 33(1), 1–2. https://doi.org/10.1089/jwh.2023.0868
