Why Period Poverty Should Be Taken More Seriously Across the UK
Imagine this. You have just sneezed and there is no tissue available for you to blow your nose. Snot is dripping down and out of necessity, you use your t-shirt to stop it making more of a mess. Your t-shirt is not an adequate replacement for a simple napkin or toilet paper.
Now think about the millions of people who have to do without sufficient menstrual products at their disposal. People that ought to use alternative supplies such as ripped pieces of fabric or cloth and some who go without.
Recent news of Scotland becoming the first country in the world to provide free period products has ignited debates into the seriousness of period poverty across the UK. Studies have shown that many people in the UK alone face challenges and struggles to access the products needed during menstruation. This issue does not impact the UK exclusively, as period poverty of varying degrees can be found all over the world, however, with a few interventions, the entire UK can minimise the problem.
General poverty is arguably the biggest cause for the insufficient access to menstruation products and has resultantly birthed many charities and organisations to help those in need across the country.
Campaigns including #TheHomelessPeriod aim to raise awareness around the issues homeless people endure when they mensurate. Statistics have shown that 68’000 women in the UK are currently homeless, this means that they are part of a demographic which are more likely to experience period poverty at some point in their lives.
Nonetheless, this issue does not only affect people who live rough. Low-income families are strongly at risk of facing the same dilemmas. Due to this, it forces individuals to use alternatives, that may not achieve similar results.
This can also lead to these groups being more dependent on food banks and other welfare services to provide for their communities. As people on low income relied on donations made to food banks, a strain was put on operations as the products became more of a demand.
In a video by the Homeless Period, homeless women have reported saying that they feel demoralised for not having access to the same products the general population have. Feelings such as these go on to have detrimental effects on their mental health leading some to be diagnosed with depression. The Mental Health Foundation has supported this as studies Studies have reported a higher prevalence of mental health problems in the homeless population in comparison to the general population, including major depression, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder.
According to data provided by Global Women Connected, half of all schoolgirls miss a full day of school because of their period. The Red Box Project is one of the UK charities fighting against period poverty. They are a community charity that aims to reduce the number of young people missing out on education due to their period.
In an interview, a representative of the charity said: “Periods are natural, yet they are treated with such caution and not given the proper care because of this. Schools need to do more to make sure schoolchildren are not growing up to think struggling due to periods are normal.”
Luckily, the UK Government has made improvement as of January 2020, they passed legislation to allow all educational establishments to give free products to students. However, due to coronavirus, it is difficult to assess how beneficial this initiative has been.
In more recent times, during the UK’s first lockdown due to coronavirus, inaccessibility to menstruation products had heavily increased. Data from Plan International found that of 1 in 10 girls who could not afford sufficient products, 54% had used toilet paper instead. This figure had tripled as a by-product of the 4-month-long nationwide lockdown.
One of the causes of this had been the moral panic and excessive stockpiling we had witnessed across the country in the earlier months. Many people found it exceedingly difficult to buy the products they needed at the supermarket as they were often little left on store shelves.
A 21-year-old student, Levi Rivera, has said: “During the first lockdown, I was heavily stressed out by university exams being online. Adding to the stress, one time I had to go to three different supermarkets to get the number of tampons I needed for the month. It shouldn’t be this hard but with people panic-buying, essential items are very quick to go.”
With further implementations to the country’s handling of this issue, we can see a reduction in the number of people it affects across the population. It is to be expected with Scotland taking a big step forward, the rest of the UK is likely to look at implementing a similar strategy.
By Cheyanne Bryan
Image courtesy of Vanessa Ramirez via Pexels