Imagine walking down the street enjoying the beautiful weather and sipping on your cold iced coffee. You suddenly get that feeling that you get once a month, and you think that you got your period. Checking your bag, you find out that you don’t have a pad or a tampon. Luckily, you spot a pharmacy at the corner of the street and breathe out a sigh of relief. Now you can go inside and buy a small pack of pads/tampons to save the day.
It sounds so simple, an easy task to complete, as it is routine to always stock up on menstrual hygiene products for monthly use. However, not everyone can do this. Women in poverty have to choose between saving their money for food or for their menstrual hygiene products. Affording menstrual hygiene products seems like a luxury when in reality it should not be. This is a big issue in the United States, as menstrual hygiene products are expensive and taxed in a majority of the states due to the fact that they are not ‘“treatment or prevention of illness or disease in human beings”’ (Parillo and Feller 1). As a young woman in the 21st century, I find period poverty to be a big concern because as everything is evolving, society has yet to find a solution to problems revolving around this matter.
What is “Period Poverty”?
There are about 22 million women in the U.S. that are in poverty and cannot afford menstrual hygiene products and this is known as “period poverty” (Farid). According to the National Organization for Women, a woman spends about $20 on menstrual products each time she gets her period, and that totals to about $18,000 in a lifetime (Kim). Where will a homeless woman or a woman who is barely making enough to make ends meet earn this amount of money to keep herself clean? Menstrual products are a necessity just as food, soap, and clean water are considered basic necessities. One cannot stop their body from needing food and water, just as one cannot stop menstruating.
You may be wondering what a homeless woman does when she gets her cycle and cannot afford the necessary products. Common solutions are using thick wads of toilet paper and wrapping them around underwear, reusing old pieces of cloth, and in some cases reusing pads (Parillo and Feller 1). This does not guarantee that public bathrooms have toilet paper for the homeless to create these DIY pads, so the solutions that they have to come up with keep becoming more risky and unsanitary. Not only do these options fail to provide enough coverage to absorb the blood, and ruin the very few pairs of pants these women may have, but they can also cause serious health problems, which include: “reproductive tract infections, such as urinary tract infections, yeast infections, and vulvar contact dermatitis” (Parillo and Feller 1). A more appalling fact is that “Eighty-six percent of non-homeless women report having started their period in public without supplies and 79% have been forced to use toilet paper or some unhealthy and unsafe object because their period started without hygiene products” (Paillo and Feller 1).
The mental and physical health of these women who are in these unfavorable circumstances are heavily affected. These unsafe methods during menses, on top of all the feelings that come during this time, can cause a homeless woman to feel bad about herself, which negatively affects her mental health. Physical health issues are usually visible to the human eye, but not mental ones, especially problems related to self-esteem. The BMC Women’s Health Study states that 68.1% of homeless women have some level of depression (Viju). This is an alarming percentage of women, considering that the number of women in poverty or homeless is in the millions. These women most likely feel invisible and may feel that they are unimportant as they go through their cycles with no support or valid resources, which is something no human should ever have to experience.
In addition to getting their cycles, most women also get cramps. Speaking from experience, when women have cramps, they don’t want to do anything, but roll up in bed, drink hot tea, and sleep. However, homeless women do not have shelter and are unable to afford painkillers to ease their pain when experiencing period cramps. Instead, they have to resort to waiting out the pain, which can cause them to also go through a depressive cycle (Kim). This is inhumane and clearly unfair, and the least the government could do is provide menstrual products in public bathrooms and other facilities so that homeless women can feel sanitary during their menses.
Unseen Complications of “Period Poverty”
What makes it difficult to resolve the issue around the affordability of menstrual hygiene products is that there is such a large stigma surrounding it. There are some girls that even find that opening their pad in a public bathroom is embarrassing and would have to open the packaging quietly, just so no one else knows that they got their period. Getting your period is a normal bodily function that every woman goes through and the fact that there is still embarrassment and shame surrounding the topic of menstruation is shocking. There should be programs in schools to inspire and motivate young women to talk about menstruation to make it easier for them to ask for help when they need it. On the other hand, people come from different backgrounds and cultures, and some find it taboo to discuss periods. This limits the ability for women to talk openly about their experiences and problems surrounding menstruation and women’s health.
Another limitation in terms of resolving period poverty is that there are more male than female representation in the government. This prevents our government representatives from understanding why period poverty and menstrual equity are significant topics. There have been proposals to pass legislation regarding this such as the Menstrual Equity For All Act of 2019, which was sponsored by Representative Grace Meng (Farid). This bill would give access to menstrual products to “(1) public school students, (2) incarcerated or detained individuals, (2) homeless individuals, (3) individuals using health care flexible spending accounts, (4) Medicaid recipients; (5) employees of organizations with at least 100 workers, and (6) individuals accessing federal buildings” (Menstrual Equity For All Act of 2019). However, this bill was not placed to receive votes and was quickly forgotten about. This seems ridiculous especially because the U.S. provides other services to help out those in poverty. An example would be the WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) service, which takes care of the costs for groceries but not menstrual products. “Women” is part of the acronym of WIC and yet they aren’t taken care of.
On the bright side, there has been a bit of progress made by the States as of 2021 to improve the period poverty situation. According to Women’s Voices for the Earth Organization, at the beginning of this year, there were about 20 bills related to period health/equity and as of September, there were more than 140 bills in 37 states, in which 8 were introduced federally to improve period equity (McConnell). This clearly demonstrates a drastic improvement in the fight for affordable menstrual products and period poverty. There are still limitations in which some of these bills failed depending on the state that it was introduced in and the voting process that occurred. Many of them have recently been introduced or are being revisited for discussion, so there is hope for change.
Breaking the Period Poverty Cycle
There have not only been efforts in legislation but there were also efforts made by the youth, who spread awareness about period poverty and equity in order to come up with well-needed solutions. PERIOD, founded by Nadya Okamoto and Vincent Forand in 2014, is one of the first organizations to be formed to educate and advocate for the ending of period poverty and the stigma around periods (PERIOD). They have many chapters led by high school and university students, which I was a part of in high school before the club leaders decided to leave the chapter and form their own club called RED. In both the PERIOD chapter and in RED, members were educated about the stigma, the lack of period equity, and the empowerment. We would raise money to purchase menstrual hygiene products to create care packages that were sent out to places like soup kitchens where homeless women had access to them. Clubs and organizations allow for unity under one common goal such as this to create a positive impact in our communities, which is why educating and combining efforts through younger generations definitely makes a difference.
Not only is there an increase in the number of young people joining these organizations and chapters, but there is also an increase in advocacy on social media. I have come across countless videos on apps such as Instagram and TikTok, where people (especially young adults and teens) are advocating and educating their audience about menstrual equity, period poverty, the stigma, the taxation of female hygiene products, women’s health, and so many other topics. This is where most of the impact on other people is made because many people spend countless hours on social media, and if they come across these types of videos, they learn something new that could inspire them to make a change as well.
There are countless organizations, similar to PERIOD, that are trying to come up with a solution to period poverty. One of these groups is the Healing Hands Project, founded by Rachel and Andre Fidino, which is a nonprofit that creates menstrual hygiene kits that are distributed to homeless women in the Pacific Northwest (HHP). Their kits include “5 regular flow tampons, 5 heavy flow tampons, 10 pads, the V-Booklet, new underwear, pamprin (for cramps), a hot pad, hand sanitizer, disposable wipes, and a biodegradable disposable bag” (HHP). Similarly, the I Support The Girls organization accepts donations to buy and distribute necessities to homeless women in the U.S. such as bras, underwear, menstrual products, hygiene products, etc (ISTG).
Although these amazing groups and many others exist, they are not a permanent solution to period poverty. The kit that HHP gives is only enough for about one or two cycles, so what happens for the rest of their cycles? A homeless woman may “get lucky” a couple of times in getting these care packages, but at other times, she may not have these items to get by. A woman should not even have to be “lucky” to get these packages or menstrual products for the month because as mentioned previously, having these necessities for menses is not a luxury. It is a need.
The progress made for women’s rights during this century is phenomenal, but there is still a long way to go. This starts with the battle against period poverty by making the conversations around periods a normality. There are so many advocates on social media, multiple organizations, and numerous school clubs/chapters, but there can always be more. Until the country as a whole removes the tax on these products, fighting for the cause is not over. The main goal is to make menstrual products free for all, but it takes baby steps to get there and it starts with the removal of the “tampon tax.” It is an achievable goal. Scotland was able to make this goal a reality in 2020 and it was the first country in the world to make menstrual products free (Diamond). The Period Products (Free Provision) (Scotland) Bill was first introduced in 2016 by Labour MSP Monica Lennon, where Lennon had been fighting for the end of period poverty in Scotland for years and this was finally accomplished in November of 2020 (Diamond). The U.S. is one of the top-performing countries in the world, and if Scotland can make menstrual hygiene products free, the U.S. definitely can. Using our voices to assist those whose voices are constantly ignored can help achieve this goal. In order to create a long-lasting change, our actions and voices must reach those with the power to pass legislation that will help free those stuck in the never-ending cycle of period poverty.
Works Cited
“About ISTG.” I Support The Girls, ISTG, isupportthegirls.org/.
Diamond, Claire. “Period Poverty: Scotland First in World to Make Period Products
Free.” BBC News, BBC, 24 Nov. 2020, www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-51629880.
“Empowering Homeless Women with Free Menstrual Hygiene Products.” The Healing Hands Project, The Healing Hands Project. www.thehealinghandsproject.org/home.
Farid, Huma. “Period Equity: What Is It, Why Does It Matter?” Harvard Health, Harvard Health Publishing, 1 June 2021. www.health.harvard.edu/blog/period-equity-what-is-it-why-does-itmatter-202106012473
“H.R.1882 - Menstrual Equity For All Act of 2019.” Congress.gov, Library of Congress. www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/1882.
Kim. “Female Homelessness and Period Poverty.” National Organization for Women, NOW, 22 Jan. 2021. now.org/blog/female-homelessness-and-period- poverty/#:~:text=Without%20the%20basic%20resources%20needed,about%20%2418%2C000%20over%20her%20lifetime.
McConnell, Jaime. “Update on Menstrual Equity Policies in the United States.” Women's Voices for the Earth, 13 Oct. 2021. www.womensvoices.org/2021/01/11/period-health-policies-is-your-stateworking-to-make-menstrual-equity-a-priority/.
Parillo, Allegra, and Edward Feller. “Menstrual Hygiene Plight of Homeless Women, a Public Health Disgrace.” RIMED, Rhode Island Medical Journal , 2017. www.rimed.org/rimedicaljournal/2017/12/2017-12-14-pov-parrillo.pdf.
“PERIOD: Who We Are.” Period.org, PERIOD The Menstrual Movement , period.org/who-we-are.
Viju, Tina. “What Happens to Homeless Women When They Get Their Period?” Medium, Medium, 28 Oct. 2021. medium.com/change-your-mind/what-happens-tohomeless-women-when-they-get-their-period 123e57f65839.
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