Period poverty affects millions worldwide, limiting access to menstrual products, education, and hygiene resources. Discover the challenges faced, why it’s a critical issue, and how organizations are working toward change.
What is Period Poverty?
First and foremost, what is period poverty? Briefly put, period poverty is a lack of access to menstruation products, hygiene facilities, waste management or even a combination of these things. According to MedicalNewsTodays , period poverty can be due to political, social, economic or even cultural reasons. Period poverty affects an individual mentally and physically.
Why is Period Poverty Important?
Period poverty is important as due to the lack of menstrual products, 1 in 5 people with periods are missing school according to the University of Michigan. This is due to either lack of availability or cost of the product. This can cause people to feel ashamed and guilty about their periods. The fact is that products aren’t readily available, which causes girls to resort to other solutions like using rags, paper towels, toilet paper or cardboard.
Alternatively, when people who need these products actually have them, those with heavier flows will use them far longer than they should be used in order to make menstrual products last longer. These individuals may even reuse pads. This is especially true for products such as pads, tampons, and other disposable products. This is a problem as it can increase the risk of urogenital infections, which are infections of the urinary and genital systems. These infections include urinary tract infections and bacterial vaginosis, which can cause vaginal itchiness, skin irritation or green/white discharge. It is especially dangerous to use tampons like this as they can cause someone to go into toxic shock syndrome.
Period poverty can cause feelings of shame and guilt that lead to depression and anxiety. Those who miss school or work may use other reasons to excuse their absences and thus, they might not be able to complete their work to the best of their abilities and have to face other consequences. According to Humanian.org, over 23 million girls drop out of school due to the unsanitary conditions of school bathrooms and a lack of access to resources.
What Can You Do and What is Being Done To Help?
One of the many issues that can be addressed is the stigma regarding period poverty. By talking about periods,we can normalize periods and make it easier for people to ask for a pad or tampon. We can talk about the implications of what period poverty can do to someone with a period, the resources and help they can get if they have access but lack the information, and much more. Remember menstruation is normal and part of life!
Other ways people with or without periods can help fight against period poverty is:
- Start and support initiatives that promote access to menstruation products and information about menstruation, changes, and hygiene practices.
- Providing facilities that enable menstruating people to care for themselves during menstruation ensures access to water, sanitation, and waste services.
- Provide women with the opportunity to receive a diagnosis for menstrual cycle disorders and access health care.
- Ensure a positive and supportive environment that allows menstruating people to participate in all aspects of life, such as going to school, work, and sport.
- Invite people to address period poverty and give talks to normalize menstruation.
- Employ zero tolerance to dirty jokes about menstruation. If you see it, call out the jokes!
- Carry a product! Even if you don’t have a period, carry a pad or tampon on you. You never know if it could help someone.
- It’s also important to be judgment free as not everyone who has a period is a girl or woman. Similarly, not everyone who is a girl or woman has a period.
According to international.gc.ca, some of the things being done in Canada currently include schools providing dignity kits. These kits are for students with periods to take home and use for the duration of their period. As well, tax is being removed from period products making it more apparent that these products are a necessity.
Conclusion
In conclusion, period poverty is an important issue to address as it has both mental and physical consequences that can cause people to miss school or work, experience embarrassment and shame or use alternative products instead of pads or tampons that can cause health issues. Some of the things we can do to reduce period poverty is to reduce the stigma by talking about it and addressing the issues. This way, we normalize periods and can encourage people to talk about the subject and ask for help upon needing menstrual products. Some of the things being done in Canada is providing period kits, otherwise called dignity kits, for people in school. However, there’s a lot more that can be done. This includes supporting or creating movements to help with period poverty, understanding that not everyone who identifies as a woman has a period, creating a safe environment at places like school or work, and calling out jokes that make menstruation seem shameful.
Summary
Period poverty is something people all around the world suffer with, but what is it? Period poverty is a lack of access to sanitary places and menstrual products due to social, economic or political reasons. Period poverty is important as it impacts both mental and physical health. Mental effects may involve people feeling shameful about the fact they don’t have the products or causing people to miss work or school. Also, period poverty can affect people’s physical health as they may have to resort to unsafe, alternative period products . Even when people do have period products, they may need to make them last longer than they should, which can increase infections and other symptoms of sickness. Some of the things that can be done to help with period poverty is to normalize periods. Periods are part of life and by inviting conversation and making a safe place to discuss them, we encourage people to come forward if they need assistance regarding resources. One way Canada is doing this is by making schools have period kits and removing pink tax from menstrual products as they are a need, not a want. Other ways an individual and other people can help out with the cause is by simply carrying a product, being open to discussing the topic, remembering not everyone who has a period bleeds, and finally calling out period jokes that make periods seem shameful. Period poverty is a serious issue, but by normalizing periods, we can slowly chip away at the problem of period poverty.
Works Cited
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