Period poverty affects people here in the UK as well as across the world.
Having access to sanitary products like tampons and pads is something many of us take for granted. However, for some people, those things aren’t a given.
Going to school or work knowing you might bleed through your bottoms at any time, or having to fashion makeshift protection from wads of toilet paper: This is the reality for people, and it’s harrowing to think about.
Amika George is the founder of the #FreePeriods campaign.
They’re campaigning to get the government to give girls who receive free school meals free femcare products too.
She penned this open letter to Theresa May for Glamour, and not only is it super powerful, it makes us so proud of the next generation.
Some top quotes from Amika's letter
‘Did you know that 137,500 girls missed a day of school last year because they couldn’t afford menstrual products? One in ten girls have been forced to improvise. 1 in 10 parents have admitted to sending their daughter to school without pads and tampons, and 6 per cent of parents have been so desperate, they’ve resorted to stealing on occasions they couldn’t afford them.’
‘When families are faced with the ugly choice of eating or buying pads, there isn’t much of a choice at all. Young girls are often sent to school without adequate protection. They are unable to focus in class, preoccupied by thoughts of whether their period has gone rogue, if they’ll make it out of the classroom stain-free, with their dignity intact.’
‘Kenya has repealed tax on menstrual products, and last month pledged to distribute pads to every single one of it’s 4.2m schoolgirls in its public schools. Kerala, a state in Southern India, is handing out period protection for schoolgirls in a bid to keep girls in school when they menstruate… Yet, the UK seems to be lagging behind in our will to provide access to menstrual hygiene management.’
Read it in full here.
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Amira organised a huge protest in London in December last year, where over 2,000 people got together to call the government to end period poverty.
There are plenty of ways you can support her work, from donating supplies to writing to your MP.
With letters like that to galvanise us all into action and get more people on board, hopefully we can end [poverty sooner rather than later.
Listen up, Theresa.
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