Written By: Kruthi Mukkara
Period poverty refers to the lack of education and access to feminine hygiene products, especially faced by many low-income and homeless women. It also includes the cultural taboo surrounding conversations about female reproductive health issues, preventing many women from talking about their struggles. There are about 16.9 million people living in period poverty in the United States (3). This global public health crisis deserves more action that can be addressed through legislation, advocacy, and research.
The Hidden Struggle
Every day, many low-income status women face the struggle of accessing the necessary products that many of us take for granted. With about 500 million women lacking access to menstrual care products worldwide, many report having to choose between putting food on the table or buying a tampon (3). Unfortunately, the societal stigma around conversations about female reproductive health causes many to feel shame and prevent them from talking about these hardships. This much too common experience is known as period poverty: the lack of education and access to feminine hygiene products. However, this broad term also includes the societal shame surrounding it, the physical and mental challenges, the inability to receive diagnoses for menstrual disorders, lack of water sanitation and hygiene, and trouble participating in daily life.
Effects of the Stigma
In what ways does period poverty affect women?
Mental Health
Period poverty can negatively affect one’s mental and emotional well-being due to embarrassment and fear of judgment.
68.1% of college students with period poverty were also diagnosed with moderate-to-severe depression (3).
Sanitation
Many women have used makeshift items in place of menstrual products such as rags, make-up wipes, and dirty newspapers (2).
Alternatively, if they did use a menstrual product such as a pad or tampon, they kept it in their bodies for much longer than the recommended time.
Both of these practices greatly increase the risk of UTIs and yeast infections.
Exclusion from Daily Activities
According to UNESCO, one out of every ten menstruating youth misses school due to period poverty (2).
Many menstruating people are isolated from their communities due to shame and cultural taboos.
Period Poverty: A Global Issue
Period poverty is a global experience, especially for those in low-income countries. For example, in Southeast Asia, many report being in work environments that are unsuitable and inflexible for menstruating. Also, a significant amount of the African population does not have access to menstrual products. Here are the percentages of people who do not have access to menstrual products in some countries across Africa (3):
Ghana: 10%
Kenya: 14%
Kinshasa: 17%
Uganda: 36%
Nigeria: 37%
Ethiopia: 41%
The United Nations interviewed people in Kenya, finding that those struggling with period poverty relied on leaves, chicken feathers, and even mud during their cycle.
Even those in high-income countries are not free of period poverty. In fact, 10% of women in the UK said they were unable to afford menstruation products (5). In the United States, two-thirds of low-income status women could not afford menstrual products in the past year, with about half choosing between buying food or menstrual products (3).
Furthermore, many cultures across the world contain taboos and associate negative connotations with menstruation that prevent women from speaking about their struggles of accessing products. For instance, in Nepal, menstruating women are seen as impure by their communities and banished to huts during menstruation, although this is deemed illegal (4). In many countries, women can not participate in religious services, can not handle food, and must isolate themselves from their communities. Such cultural taboos around a natural biological process create a harmful stigma around conversations regarding female reproductive struggles. As a result, many fear discussing their own hardships with period poverty due to judgment from their communities.
Anecdotes and Personal Stories
Here are some personal anecdotes from those who have experienced period poverty in the UK (1):
“I wouldn’t ask for pads— I would go without food instead.”
“I would buy the cheapest pads I could get my hands on. They often leaked so I would avoid going anywhere.”
“But I was so humiliated. I felt like I had failed, that I was dirty and unclean and that people would judge me.”
“To be rather crude and honest, it came to the point where I used makeshift tampons and towels out of loo roll. My card got declined when I was buying the cheapest tampons in the store.”
Call to Action
So, how do we address such a pressing global health crisis within the public health field?
Legislation: more support from governments to provide affordable, and even cost-free, menstrual products; for example, decreasing taxes on tampons and pads, known as the “pink tax”, to raise affordability, and providing free menstrual products at businesses, workplaces, and schools.
Advocacy: increased conversations around female reproductive health to destigmatize the shame around period poverty, breaking down the cultural taboos around menstruation, and creating safe and positive environments for menstruating people to discuss their experiences.
Research: more funding for research on the effects of period poverty so that target groups experiencing period poverty can be identified, solutions in our healthcare systems can be found, and disparity gaps can be narrowed.
With such action, we can not only allow people to gain access to menstrual products, but also create an environment where people do not have to fear any judgment.
References:
Collins, J. (2019, November 26). Period poverty can happen to anyone. these women told us their stories. EachOther. Retrieved April 6, 2022, from https://eachother.org.uk/period-poverty-can-happen-anyone-women-told-us-stories/
Davies, S. (2021, April 6). Period poverty: The Public Health Crisis we don't talk about. Period Poverty: The Public Health Crisis We Don't Talk About. Retrieved April 6, 2022, from https://policylab.chop.edu/blog/period-poverty-public-health-crisis-we-dont-talk-about
Nwadike, V. (2021, September 16). What is period poverty? Medical News Today. Retrieved April 6, 2022, from https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/period-poverty#what-is-it
Sánchez, E., & Rodriguez, L. (2019, February 5). Period poverty: Everything you need to know. Global Citizen. Retrieved April 6, 2022, from https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/period-poverty-everything-you-need-to-know/
Vonberg, J. (2018, October 3). She had no sanitary pads. no one knew and no one helped - CNN. CNNHealth. Retrieved April 6, 2022, from https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/03/health/uk-period-poverty-asequals-intl/index.html
Comments