Periods: Poverty and Proposals Around the World

(Jeannie Phan/Broadview Magazine)

Period Poverty

Years ago, when Rachel Krengel and her family went into debt, Krengel said that menstrual products became “the first thing under the bus.” Krengel was forced to ration her menstrual products and would regularly use sanitary pads for close to a full day, instead of the recommended three to four hours—not only was this a health risk, but Krengel’s everyday functioning was disrupted by this. In fact, Krengel would have to sacrifice menstrual products to put food on the table instead. 

“You can make dinner for four people for £1," she says. "That seemed so much more important than something that was only for me.” 

For Krengel, her experiences with period poverty were eye opening. Period poverty became a call for her to campaign to make sure that other menstruators are not forced to make the same sacrifices she had to. 

Yet her story is just one of countless stories of women and girls who have found that the cost of simply having a period is beyond their means—so much so that they cannot live their day-to-day lives.

What is Period Poverty?

Period poverty refers to inadequate access to menstrual hygiene products and education surrounding menstrual cycles and female health. Around 500 million people with a uterus are subject to it, globally, per month. 

On average, women spend $9 per month on menstrual items, and for many, this cost is high enough that they have to choose between buying other necessities like groceries over tampons and pads. On the surface, this may appear to be a frivolous issue—but it’s not. Without adequate menstrual products, basic daily activities such as attending work or school can become impossible.

Globally, girls fear potential menstrual-related accidents happening during school. Worldwide, 1 out of every 10 girls are willing to skip their classes to avoid any accidents or potential teasing. In the U.S., 4 in 5 either regularly miss or know someone who misses their classes because they have inadequate access to menstrual products. In 2017 alone, over 130,000 girls in the UK skipped their classes because they were unable to purchase menstrual products. This embarrassment is not isolated to these two countries. Combined with a lack of access to menstrual products and, in many countries, insufficient privacy measures and poor sanitation facilities, going to school is an obstacle for girls during their periods. 

For menstruators in developing countries, while on their periods, they are forced to use items like old clothes and paper, rather than specifically designed menstrual products like tampons or pads. In countries like India, where hundreds of millions have menstrual cycles, over 10% cannot afford menstrual hygiene products. Here, many menstruators resort to using harmful objects, like newspaper and wood shavings. Lack of reliable access to period products is also common, for example, in Kenya where around 65% of women cannot afford menstrual products and over a million school-aged girls regularly miss 6 or more weeks of school because they can not find the supplies they need.

Furthermore, period poverty has only been exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic, with the disease making an already bad problem even worse. Around the world, COVID-19 has caused a shortage of hygiene products, such as soap and toilet paper, creating a bigger problem for menstruating people. Other common ways to access menstrual products such as public transportation and stores have also been shut down and restricted due to the pandemic, again limiting ways for women to access the items they need. 

Why Does Period Poverty Persist?

At the root of this public health crisis is high costs—however, poor policy and relentless stigmatization of periods are the primary drivers of this crisis. 

In some regions of Nepal, for example, menstrual cycles are highly culturally stigmatized to the point where menstruating people have died because of it. Chaupadi, or menstrual exile, has been a common practice in rural Nepal for centuries. As part of Chaupadi, menstruators are deemed unclean and exiled to bare-bones huts. 

Nepali women and girls have died from numerous causes while in these poor sheds: physical assault, hypothermia, and suffocation being only some of the many. From 2006-2019, 15 Nepali women and girls died due to the poor conditions of the huts. However, this number is considered to be on the low side because many deaths go unreported. 

The practice of Chaupadi was banned by Nepal’s Supreme Court in 2005, but this has done little, if anything, to stop it from continuing to happen. In more rural areas of Nepal, at least 72% of adolescent girls are still forced to practice Chaupadi. 

The issue of cultural stigmatization of periods spans far beyond Nepal however, with a wide array of countries around the world ostracizing those who menstruate still today. Stigma around periods results in tangible danger for menstruators in some places; in other regions, it simply enables the ignorance that propels bad policy.

Countless Western countries place excessively high tax rates on essential period products, often mislabelling them as “luxury” goods. Access to period products is especially burdensome in countries like Hungary and Sweden, where the tax rate, or “period tax” for menstrual products is over 20%. In most U.S. states, there is a “tampon tax” on menstrual products, as they are seen as being a luxury, rather than an essential item. For many American women, the cost of menstrual products, in addition to the “luxury” tax, leads many to struggle financially. For some, this struggle is so difficult that it even perpetuates homelessness. 

To eliminate period poverty and thus make everyday life consistently accessible to menstruators around the world, it is necessary for lawmakers and the general populace to understand what periods actually are, and willingly dedicate resources to making essential products accessible.

Several countries are finally beginning to pave the way for this.

Period Proposals

In November 2020, Scotland became the first country in the world to make period products entirely free. The bill, named the Period Products (Free Provision) (Scotland) Bill, was passed unanimously and legally requires local authorities to make arrangements such that anyone who needs period products can get them for free. 

This bill was introduced by Monica Lennon, a Scottish politician who has been fighting for access to period products since 2016. When the bill was passed, Lennon tweeted that it was, “A proud day for Scotland and a signal to the world that free universal access to period products can be achieved.” After this landmark achievement, England and Wales have also adopted similar measures.

In Seoul, after news broke out that young girls were making period products out of toilet paper and parts of shoes, the city created a pilot program providing free period products in public spaces. In British Columbia, the board of education mandated that schools provide free menstrual products to all their students, with Nova Scotia following suit. In Botswana, all school-aged girls became eligible for free sanitary pads in 2017, and in Zambia, the government promised the same for menstruating teens in underserved communities. For both Botswana and Zambia, educators have seen an increase in attendance among these populations.

Internationally, the United Nations has officially recognized period poverty as a global health and human rights issue. Nonetheless, there is still much to be done to mitigate this crisis and to help menstruators around the world. 

But, one thing is for sure: when there are programs that provide education on menstruation and adequate menstrual products and sanitation facilities, menstruators worldwide can access higher education and fully integrate into the workforce. Without these, equal opportunities for all cannot and will not exist.