on: Bloody Period Poverty
Hi Lovely Reader Friend,
Thanks for joining me again. This week is a sequel to last week’s hygiene poverty story. Men, please don’t pass over this issue just because it doesn’t affect you. Instead, sit with the facts and see how you can support women that are suffering from period poverty.
Letters from Lauren will always be free, but if you ever fancy supporting me with some pennies, you can ‘buy me a coffee’ here. No pressure, but I would love it, obviously. And please do share the posts on social media. And subscribe (make sure you mark my emails as ‘not spam’ so that the emails come to your inbox)!
Thank you.
xxxLauren
Each month, many women get a reminder that their menstrual cycle is ticking along. They may head to the shop to stock up on sanitary products or find the stash tucked away in the cupboard to keep clean while on their period. But women and girls living in period poverty don’t have the luxury of easily purchasing tampons or sanitary pads.
Period poverty is when a woman or girl is unable to access sanitary products and has poor knowledge of menstruation often due to financial constraints. It’s going to the shop, glancing at the pack of tampons, but passing them up to get milk instead. It’s walking down the hall at school, fearing that the toilet paper you used in your underwear won’t prevent an embarrassing leak. It’s skipping work because you have no way to keep yourself clean while you are away from home.
Cherie Hoeger, CEO of Saalt (a company creating reusable menstrual cups), relayed to me the extent of the problem. ‘300 million women and girls live in period poverty. They live on less than $1.25 per day. For centuries women have turned to resourceful methods to manage their periods, using banana leaves, scraps of clothing, bits of mattress padding or even soil of ash to absorb their menstrual flow.’ We don’t live in ancient centuries anymore – women and girls should not have to struggle to take care of their bodies while menstruating.
I spoke to Supriya Garikipati, Professor in Development Economics at the University of Liverpool, to find out more about the affect of period poverty on women and girls around the world. ‘Not having access to sanitary products has a direct impact on woman’s wellbeing. Inadequate access to sanitary products may stop girls from going to school and college. It may stop women from seeking employment and may also have a deeply negative psychological impact on them.’ She went on to explain that COVID-19 has exposed the vulnerabilities of global supply chains, creating shortages of sanitary products around the world.
It's not just an issue ‘somewhere else’. It’s an issue in the UK, where more than a quarter of women and girls have been affected by period poverty. With females typically shelling out over £5,000 over the course of a lifetime on sanitary products, it is no surprise that many have to sacrifice sanitary products for the rent, food, or heating. Or they have had the option taken away from them as they may be living on the streets.
Not only do women struggle to pay for products, but they are also overcoming the taboo surrounding menstruation. Even reading this article, men and women may cringe thinking about periods. There is a stigma of shame, disgust, and fear associated with the menstrual cycle, only making it more difficult to address the problem of period poverty. ‘Breaking menstrual taboos is critical’, explained Kath Clements of Mooncup. ‘We’ve been chipping away at the shame and secrecy around periods since we started in 2002, through disruptive work like our ‘Love your vagina’ campaign, as well as supporting grassroots menstrual health projects globally. Once the taboo shifts, a real opportunity for change opens up.’ Mooncup, along with many others are educating both men and women about periods and sex to help reduce the shame associated with periods.
Period poverty is a global issue, affecting each country to some extent. How to deal with it will vary from country to country. In the UK, the Government announced last September that girls would allocate 21 million pounds over the course of three years to schools and charities to keep girls clean. Charities working with women are taking donations and redistributing to the women that can’t access sanitary products. Globally, similar initiatives are taking place.
But there is another issue lurking behind period poverty – the negative impact of disposable tampons and pads on the environment. The average woman uses around 11,000 disposable period products in a lifetime. These products are either flushed down the toilet (which eventually must be fished out of sewages or leads directly to the sea) or thrown in the bin, ending up in landfills.
‘There’s more to that than meets the eye,’ Kath Clements elaborated. ‘Beyond the visible plastics of wrappers, backing strips and applicators, conventional menstrual products can contain up to 90% plastic within their composition too. And it’s not just the plastic waste to consider - conventional cotton production accounts for one sixth of all pesticides used globally, too.’
All of those sanitary pads and tampons, made with their plastic components, will take thousands of years to degrade.
Naturally, the answer is to focus on solving period poverty sustainably. Can it be done? I spoke to Rachel Grocott, of Bloody Good Period, to get her thoughts. ‘We wholeheartedly encourage anyone who has the luxury of choice, and who is able to choose reusable, plastic-free period supplies, to do just that - but for many of the people we work with, that's not a realistic choice. Refugees and asylum seekers in the UK generally live in accommodation without reliable access to lockable bathrooms, for example, to be able to safely use cups - that's especially important when you think about the amount of practice needed to successfully use a cup. Neither do they generally have access to reliable washing facilities to keep cups or reusable pads clean. Many have also suffered trauma, at minimum displacement and the journey to reach this country, but possibly also including FGM, which makes using cups difficult or impossible. We therefore prioritise getting these women the products they are familiar with and feel comfortable with.’
Concerns about cultural sensitivities and facilities to clean the reusable sanitary product was shared by many of the people I spoke to. Ruby Raut, of WUKA period underwear, described to me her experience of how women from her home in Nepal would be hesitant to use a menstrual cup as that area is meant for sexual experiences with a man. She also described the problem of cleaning reusable sanitary products when there weren’t private bathrooms, with running water and soap, to clean pads. And then, where should they be dried?
Additionally, disposable products are much easier to come by, both in the UK and in developing countries. ‘Menstrual cups and reusable pads are available in developing countries, but they are not as easily accessible as disposable pads. You need to know specific manufacturers or be into online shopping to access these materials, whereas for disposable pads you can simply walk to the nearest shop,’ Garikipati told me. Action Aid is working to teach women and children how to make their own sanitary pads, meaning they can take control of their own periods without the donations of an outside organization or having to buy disposable ones from shops.
In the UK, women suffering from period poverty face a similar problem. Sustainable products are more expensive because they cost more to manufacture. Also, period underwear is classed as clothing, therefore has a higher tax attached to it. As the price of resuable products is higher, the Government and charities often provide the cheaper option that they can more widely distribute, disposable products. However, if long-term solutions are to be considered, a reusable product that is donated to a woman once will last much longer than a disposable one.
Kath Clements described one way to practically use current available projects and services to combat period poverty. ‘The free period product scheme currently being offered to state schools and colleges here in the UK is valuable in the fight for period equality. However, according to PHS who provides the service, most schools have not used their budget. Schools currently have until the end of the year to benefit from ordering free period products: to safeguard their poorest students when it comes to periods - they have to either use it or lose it. We are hoping that with our #FreePeriodcampaign, we can help get more schools on board, and ensure that vulnerable students are not made to choose to spend their money on period care instead of other essentials like food. Or go without.’
There is lots to consider about fighting period poverty in a sustainable way. It starts with bringing the discussion to the table. Charities, governments, communities, schools, and families having chats about changes that they can make to help women and girls reduce shame and keep clean in a sustainable way. It may not be a glamorous beginning, but the more we generate ideas and values, the more change we will hopefully see as women and girls are given and empowered to create reusable sanitary products.