Period poverty is an issue that affects millions of people around the world. Read about what it is and how you can help.
Edited by Kayla Luga
Menstruation, otherwise known as having your period, is when blood and tissue from the uterus comes out of a person’s vagina. It usually happens once a month on a regular cycle. In her lifetime, a woman* will experience around 450 periods (that’s nearly 6 ¼ years of your life spent bleeding). In addition to bleeding, people who get periods also have to deal with PMS-which stands for premenstrual syndrome, not period mood swings- a week or two before the period actually starts. This includes acne breakouts, bloating, mood changes, cravings, and cramps, all of which can also occur during the actual period.
If bleeding for three to seven days was not already uncomfortable enough, the cost of the multiple hygiene products that a person might use during their period is enough to make anybody squirm. At minimum, someone may use four tampons a day for a five day
cycle, which is 20 tampons per month- around 9,120 tampons in a lifetime. A regular box of 36 tampons costs seven dollars; 70% of women use tampons, and over the course of their lifetime, they will pay about $1,770! Some people might also turn to pads or panty liners, which can be just as expensive. These figures don’t even begin to account for other products someone might need during their period: heating pads, pain and acne pills, and new underwear (due to staining).
Most people who get their periods probably would not consider menstruation a luxury; these products are needed so that people who get periods can take care of themselves properly and avoid contracting infections or other health complications. Yet there is still a “luxury tax” on many basic hygiene products like pads and tampons. Menstrual products are taxed in 35 different states, which consider them nonessential items. In 2019, lawmakers in 22 states tried to introduce bills that would eliminate the “tampon tax”, but none of them moved forward.
In 2019, researchers at Obstetrics & Gynecology reported that more than one in five women struggled to afford menstrual hygiene products every month. This is a huge problem especially with low-income women in the United States. Wearing a pad or a tampon isn’t just about health: it’s about feeling comfortable and composed, and being able to go about life normally.
This is just one case of period poverty, which is defined as the inadequate access to menstrual hygiene tools and education, including but not limited to sanitary products, washing facilities, and waste management. However, period poverty exists in other subtle forms in America: for example, food stamps do not cover menstrual products for people living below the poverty line. Prisons did not have adequate hygiene products for their inmates; while the Federal Bureau of Prisons announced that women in its facilities would receive a free supply of pads and tampons in 2017, less than 10% of female inmates actually gained anything from this. The majority of incarcerated women are not in facilities that are operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons: 99,000 women are in state prisons and 96,000 are in local jails, meaning that about 195,000 menstruating inmates may not have access to the proper products during their periods.
Period poverty is not just an issue that affects people in America; it happens all around the globe, and it isn’t even just about menstrual products. UNICEF reports that 2.3 million people around the globe do not have access to basic sanitation devices, and only 27% of the population in the least developed countries have access to handwashing facilities with soap and clean water at home. About half of schools in low-income countries don’t have the proper hygiene tools for their menstruating students and teachers either. Period poverty also disproportionately affects people who are disabled or have special needs with lack of access to toilets with water and menstrual products. Not being able to obtain pads or tampons gives you a chance of contracting infections, but not having the basic facilities to wash your hands raises those chances even more.
Putting aside health concerns, period poverty also takes an effect on people in terms of education and daily life. There is a certain stigma around menstruation, and sex education in general. Oftentimes when a girl brings up her period, the boys around her will be disgusted or they won’t want to hear about it. Fathers and male teachers may even react in this way.
This stigma is part of the reason why period poverty occurs: people who menstruate are set apart from their daily activities and miss out on their jobs and going to school, which are a crucial part of anybody’s life. In a study done in Uganda, an agency called WoMena found that girls there often skip school while on their periods to avoid shaming or bullying from their peers. An extreme case is Nepal, where a menstruating person is seen as impure and is sent to live in huts when they do. This is extremely dangerous and there have been many cases where a person has died from smoke inhalation while trying to keep themselves warm in the hut.
Period poverty is not an unsolvable problem. The first way that we can help as a society is to end the taboo surrounding periods. We can do this by teaching children about menstruation and the proper hygiene that goes along with it at an early age. It is important to understand why and how it happens and normalize it completely. We should be more conscious of some of the more subtle things we do that contribute to the stigmatization of menstruation as well, such as hiding your pad in your pocket when you go to change it in a public place. Half the population experiences menstruation so it should not be seen as an unnatural or strange thing. Giving this information to children not only helps young girls, but it benefits boys too; it can help erase the stigma and misconceptions early on.
While getting rid of the “tampon tax” won’t suddenly help every woman to be able to afford pads or tampons, it is certainly a step in the right direction. Eliminating the tax will make menstrual hygiene products much more affordable, and it will help menstruating people save thousands of dollars each year and live much more comfortably.
It is easy to get involved: organizations like UNICEF, the MINA Foundation, WSSCC, PERIOD, and many more are working on local and global levels to help provide children in schools with the proper hygiene products, change national policies, educate people with the right information, and break the stigma around periods. You can donate to these organizations, join a local chapter, or even start your own chapter of one of these movements in your town/state.
In simpler words, it is time to stop dehumanizing periods.
*It is important to note that people who get periods identify as a girl/woman. Trans men and genderqueer, gender noncomforming, and nonbinary people who have uteruses and vaginas can also get periods.
Sources:
Comments