Period Poverty: The prevalence of sanitary deprivation
Number of people deprived of sanitary products rises in the UK.
Imagine being a girl.
Imagine starting you period and not having access to the sanitary products you require.
There is a vast stigma attached to the mention of periods, one that has followed people through the ages, leaving young girls feeling embarrassed.
Every day approximately 800 million women, globally, menstruate at the same time, all of those women enduring the same uncomfortable experience. Not all of them are privileged enough to have access to the products that they need to keep them clean, and free from risk of infection.
From the 1st January 2021, tampon tax will be removed but for years it was deemed a taxable luxury to have sanitary products.
The duo have made up enough boxes to distribute to local schools in their area and are hoping to get involved with more educatory institutions. They have also visited homeless shelters and food banks who expressed their immense gratitude at receiving period products for women that they support.
Caroline explains how “the vast majority of people that have donated are people I have no idea who they are, and we found with the donations we have had, they have been predominantly from women.”
The mother and daughter have raised £2238 and have made 487 boxes to be donated to anyone that needs them. The boxes are small, discrete and are able to be posted to anyone that may be in isolation, ensuring that everyone can have a comfortable and hygienic period.
The duo have made up enough boxes to distribute to local schools in their area and are hoping to get involved with more educatory institutions. They have also visited homeless shelters and food banks who expressed their immense gratitude at receiving period products for women that they support.
“The homeless shelter could not get enough of it as they said they only carry enough stock for emergencies, and they can’t give a woman enough for a week, they can only give her enough for a day.”
The economic calamity is forcing the numbers of people experiencing period poverty to soar, with women having to go without sanitary products or use make-shift materials.
Caroline is hoping that there will still be a desire for their boxes in the New Year as they have had a terrific response during their start up period and she is astonished at people’s contributions.
She explains, “You can’t stop it, but you have to deal with it.”
“The homeless shelter could not get enough of it as they said they only carry enough stock for emergencies, and they can’t give a woman enough for a week, they can only give her enough for a day.”
It is estimated that 49% of young girls have missed at least one day of school due to their period with reasons stemming from embarrassment due to mass stigmatization or not having the funds to purchase such sanitary luxury.
The Red Box Campaign is just one campaign that has been created to help eradicate the stigma of periods and provide products to women.
Belinda Raworth, 54, a teacher at a school in Bognor Regis, has been exposed to the noticeable struggle that young girls have to endure.
“It’s a disgrace in the modern world. I think girls should get tokens like you get milk tokens for babies. The red box campaign is great but shouldn’t be necessary. That said I have had girls come to me in tears because they don’t know what a period is when it starts.”
Every time a girl misses school it impacts her education; children with no absences are 1.5 times more likely to gain 5 or more GCSES.
Caroline Herman, 43, creator of the All Yours Project, is sourcing sanitary products to those that need it. With a combination of factors prompting to start the charity, including reading “Period Power”, Herman set up a Go Fund Me page to raise money for products that can help those who are deprived of the necessities.
“How is this happening 30 years on from when I was a teenager? It is the whole stigma around the topic. It blows my mind that there are still girls in secondary school that are too scared to say, ‘can you help me. It is no judgement, it breaks my heart, but there isn’t any kind of signal to young girls that it is fine to talk to anyone about your periods.”
“If men had a period, period products would have been free for centuries.”
Along with the help of her daughter, Caroline has been working round the clock to produce personalised period boxes containing labelled sanitary products.
There are two types of boxes they produce: one for adult women and one for younger girls in secondary schools or colleges. Both types have up to 20 sanitary pads for day use and 6 night-time pads, all of which are labelled.
A survey with a sample of 1000 young girls aged 14–21, conducted by Plan International reveals that 1 in 10 girls have been unable to afford sanitary products, with 1 in 7 girls having to ask to borrow from a friend due to affordability difficulties.
Caroline is hoping that there will still be a desire for their boxes in the New Year as they have had a terrific response during their start up period and she is astonished at people’s contributions.
She explains, “You can’t stop it, but you have to deal with it.”
