By Kendal Furman
One of the most pressing, yet not often discussed human rights, public health, and gender inequality issues prevalent today is the inaccessibility of sanitary products and menstrual hygiene education, commonly referred to as period poverty. This crisis has targeted millions both in economically developed and developing countries, leaving menstruating people around the globe to resort to dangerous and even life-threatening means of dealing with their periods.
The Main Contributors to Period Poverty
Despite the extensive economic and social differences between countries affected by period poverty, this dilemma stems from three main root causes: limited access to sanitary products, widespread stigmas surrounding menstruation, and a severe lack of menstrual education. These contributors can combine with other factors such as a lack of natural resources like clean water present in certain areas around the world, specifically in economically underdeveloped countries, to further exacerbate the issue.
Regardless of the size or strength of a country’s economy, economic inequality coupled with high costs of period products creates inaccessibility and thus, more period poverty. In countries with high poverty rates, extreme inequality and large tariffs on imported menstrual products, like Uganda, it’s common for people to find themselves unable to afford period products altogether.
A study conducted by BMC Women’s Health notes that “among 10 [to] 19-year-old girls in rural schools in… Eastern Uganda, only 9% of girls reported using disposable pads as their main protection.” In an interview conducted by the researchers of this study, one Ugandan citizen remarked that oftentimes with “those girls who don’t have materials like pads, you find that the dad is poor, [and] the mom is poor… So they do not get the basic things they need when they are at school.” This inaccessibility ultimately pushes people to resort to dangerous substitutes like “old rags, paper towels, toilet paper and even cardboard”, which can expose them to various harmful infections.
Even in an economic powerhouse like the United Kingdom, period poverty affects a significant portion of the population as a result of similar inaccessibility issues resulting from a high level of economic inequality that leaves “10% of girls between the ages of 14 years and 21 years…unable to afford sanitary products,” according to The Lancet. This exemplifies how even in developed countries, unequal distribution of wealth provides a barrier for many people to receive access to necessary menstrual products. Furthermore, the continued implementation of the Tampon Tax by multiple countries like Hungary, Sweden, Mexico, and many states in the U.S. further isolates people with periods from receiving affordable menstrual products.
Adding to the obstacles facing menstruating people as a result of inaccessibility fueled by economic inequality and high costs of period products is the stigmatization of menstruation. Actors in the international system exhibit diverse values, identities, religions and cultures. This international diversity means that groups have different definitions of what social and ethical standards are appropriate, a concept referred to as cultural relativism. These differing ideas lead to the development of certain stigmas or taboos which are direct reflections of the state’s unique norms. As it relates to period poverty, menstrual stigmas spread false information regarding menstruation and leave people feeling ashamed or embarrassed of their own bodily functions. To make matters even worse, many families fear discussing these important issues, causing questions about menstruation to go unanswered. These stigmas leave people believing the dangerous and false information they hear from uneducated peers or family members. They also further the idea that menstruation is a private matter, thus inhibiting the empowerment of people regarding their bodies and leading them to, out of embarrassment, refuse to seek help when they need it. Additionally, many menstruating people endure teasing and bullying at school because of their periods, fueling negative sentiments about menstruation in people with and without periods alike. These taboos deepen the idea that periods are shameful, causing people to fail to seek out proper information and ask questions about their bodies. As a result, people adopt unsafe practices in an effort to hide their periods from others, ultimately exposing them to serious harm.
Building on the spread of taboos is the lack of menstrual education for children globally, leading to even more shame and misinformation regarding periods. In countries where people typically don’t make it to secondary school, period education remains unheard of, leaving people to seek information from unreliable sources including uneducated friends and family members. This lack of menstrual education deepens period poverty as it leads to the development of further stigmas and leaves people without insight into their own bodily functions and proper health management, all of which results in dangerous practices. Even in countries where average education levels for people are much higher, schools continue to fail at fully addressing the topic of menstruation. Even when period education is included in a country’s nationally mandated curriculum, many people find themselves unable to remember or apply the concepts taught to them, and there are rarely follow-ups to ensure a proper understanding of core principles. Oftentimes concepts are outdated as well, again causing people to seek more current instruction on health management from friends or parents who may be misinformed. As a result of this lack of period education, people with periods can adopt practices that endanger their lives. In Afghanistan, for example, “70% of girls do not take a bath or shower during menstruation for fear of infertility” according to UNICEF. Uneducated assumptions like these can subject people to a whole slew of potentially life-threatening infections and diseases, highlighting the severity of period poverty.
The Implications of Period Poverty
Outside of subjecting people to physical harm as a result of unsafe practices, period poverty can negatively affect many other aspects of menstruating people’s lives as well. To start, school attendance across the globe suffers as a result of period poverty. Regardless of economic development, school absenteeism has been linked to period poverty as menstruating people’s inability to obtain adequate products, fear of being teased and embarrassment surrounding menstruation coincides with period pain, pushing them to skip school. Even worse, in economically developing countries where education levels are lower, people can be seen dropping out of school altogether as their period serves as an extreme inhibitor. Beyond school, periods can have a detrimental effect on people of working age too, similarly preventing them from participating in the workforce. This can cause people to suffer economically, only worsening their ability to access the proper products and resources they need to feel comfortable and safe regarding their periods. Finally, period poverty also heavily influences people’s emotional wellbeing, making them feel isolated, confused, ashamed, and ostracized as a result of their own bodily functions, all of which are precursors to the development of depression, anxiety, and low self-esteem. One study of collegiate women found that as much as 68% of participants who had dealt with period poverty also experienced mild to severe depression, illuminating the intense strain that period poverty can have on a person’s mental health.
Period poverty also further contributes to global gender inequality, as seen through the implementation of a sales tax on sanitary ware, also known as the Tampon Tax. This tax, which can range from 10% up to 27% in certain countries, denotes menstrual products as “self-care” and “luxury” items whereas condoms and Viagra are not only labeled medical products but are exempt from taxes in many of the same countries implementing the Tampon Tax. This double standard highlights the inherent sexism and ignorance surrounding the topic of menstruation by insinuating that menstruation is somehow not as serious as male birth control or male sexual conditions like erectile dysfunction and also fuels period poverty by making essential feminine hygiene products increasingly inaccessible.
What Is Being Done to Help?
In an effort to mitigate these negative implications, certain organizations and countries have worked to take steps to end global period poverty. To combat the issue of inaccessibility, the United Kingdom adopted a new bill, which went into place in 2020, to provide every state-funded school and college across England with free period products for their students. Similarly, international organizations like Afripads have focused on distributing pads and menstrual kits to menstruating people in impoverished countries at a low cost. Other organizations, such as the UK-based Plan International, are working to combat social contributors to period poverty by having open conversations with people about their periods. They hope that this receptiveness can empower people to feel dignified about their period so that they can seek the proper educational tools necessary to ensure they are pursuing safe practices and prioritizing their health and well-being, thus halting contributors of period poverty. Some countries like India, Australia, Canada and Iceland have gone as far as to abolish all sales taxes on period products, aiming to increase affordability and access while simultaneously decreasing global gender inequality. These efforts combined have begun to chip away at the major causes of Period Poverty in order to institute menstrual equity worldwide.
What You Can Do
If you’re interested in helping to mitigate period poverty can get involved in a variety of ways. Here are a few ideas to get you started:
- You can donate to various charities working to stop period poverty like The Homeless Period, The Red Box Project, and Freedom4Girls.
- You can also donate to support the transportation of supplies to points of need here.
- You can send menstrual supplies to those in need via Amazon Smile.
- You can write to local legislators, especially senators, to end the tampon tax.
- You can buy your own sanitary products from brands like Always and Pink Parcel which give back to the community.
- You can reach out to Thrive D.C. to look into donating time, money, or menstrual products which will directly help the homeless population in D.C.
- You can normalize having open conversations about periods to stop the spread of harmful stigmas, shame, and misinformation.
