MENSTRUAL HYGIENE DAY: WHY IT MATTERS AND HOW TO GET INVOLVED
This Saturday, 28th May, is Menstrual Hygiene Day, a day focused on tackling period poverty and stigma.
According to the United Nations Population Fund, menstruation often leads to women and girls being excluded from key areas of public life — whether because of cultural norms or because of the fear of stigmatisation. Not only can this lead to a reduction in educational and professional opportunities, but period poverty around the world means women and girls everywhere can have difficulty accessing proper menstrual supplies and safe bathing facilities, which only serves to further exclude them from spaces such as schools.
Further, inadequate period hygiene may lead to increased risk of contracting infections such as UTIs or yeast infections, and period pain can lead women and girls to miss out on school, work or social activities because they don’t have access to adequate medical care.
Because of all of this, there are a number of things that need to be done in order to achieve period equity — i.e. stopping menstruation from being a barrier to opportunity for people with periods.
To mark this important day of awareness, I wanted to highlight charities, individuals and companies doing incredible work towards destigmatising and democratising menstrual hygiene.
Charities and Nonprofits
WASH United is the Germany-based organisation that started Menstrual Hygiene Day. As well as developing this day of awareness, they created a Menstrual Hygiene Management Education Guide that’s available to download from their website. Through Menstrual Hygiene Day, WASH United aims to “create a world where no woman or girl is held back because she menstruates” b ending period stigma, educating everyone about menstrual health, and making sure every person who menstruates has access to adequate products and medical care.
You’ve likely seen a Bloody Good Period sticker out and about — and people are repping the organisation with good reason. They are centred around three pillars: “Deliver,” whereby they provide refugees, asylum seekers and people living in poverty with period products; “Educate,” whereby they strive to inform people about their own health; and “Normalise,” whereby they work to end period stigma.
UNITED NATIONS POPULATION FUND
The UNFPA do a great job of providing free information about period equality online, and they also do great work on the ground. During humanitarian crises, they provide people who menstruate with disposable and reusable period products, as well as lights to improve the safety of bathing facilities in displacement camps. They also work to improve education around menstruation and related causes, support national health systems in providing proper care to people who menstruate, and help gather data around menstrual health and human rights.
Plan is a children’s charity that works to create a fairer world for girls. They do work across a variety of areas related to girls’ welfare, which includes education and improving accessibility to period hygiene. They collaborate with local governments and schools to train people in education and healthcare to destigmatise periods for those who experience them.
Girl Guides are encouraged to get involved with ending period stigma and poverty in a number of ways. They try to initiate peer-to-peer discussions during their Girlguiding sessions, collect period products for girls in their units, and collect period products for local food banks. They also have a pledge on their website for people to change the way they talk about periods.
Period Positive was founded by Chella Quint, the UK’s leading expert on menstruation literacy. The organisation works to break the taboos associated with periods, as well as all the fear and misinformation around menstruating. They work extensively with schools, as well as organisations and institutions to make the world a more period-positive place in general.
Freedom4Girls fight period inequality through providing period products to those in need, educating people on their menstrual health, campaigning against period poverty, and holding reusable pad sewing workshops. You can help them by donating or fundraising.
For-Profit Companies
Think are a pioneering reusable period pants company, which in itself helps the environment, but they also take their commitment to a fairer world seriously in other powerful ways. Through their GiveRise programme, they advocate for menstrual equity, and work to expand access to menstrual products for those in need. Part of the proceeds from each purchase goes towards funding these fantastic projects.
TOTM are a period product brand dedicated to reducing their environmental impact by ditching unnecessary plastic, chemicals, dye and fragrance. Beyond their pads, tampons, liners and cups, TOTM are also dedicated to ending period stigma and unequal access to period hygiene, for example through their editorial platform Mood, which shares free menstrual health education. They also donate 1 percent of sales to Endometriosis UK, an organisation that supports those living with endometriosis.
DAME also produce more environmentally friendly period products while fighting for a fairer world where menstruation is concerned. They work for greater access to period products, education and resources, as well as reducing the stigma still associated with periods. They have notably done this by plastering large ads on the sides of double-decker buses reading, “Bleed red. Think green” in defiance of the clichéd period ads that use blue cleaning liquid to show pads’ absorbance to avoid showing blood. Their products also cost less than similar products on the market in the long term, which serves to help those on a lower income have easier access to appropriate period hygiene products, among other initiatives.
Founded by a mother-daughter duo, &SISTERS understand the importance of good period care. Their business is built around the idea of being “better for our bodies, better for our planet, better for our sisters.” Their period products are made with 100% organic cotton and certified by the Soil Association. &SISTERS are also a certified B Corp, and donate 1 percent of their sales to non-profits worldwide. Through their blog, they also make it a point to educate people on their cycles.
WUKA make period pants sustainably, using less plastic and doing their best to avoid waste throughout the production process. They donate 1 percent of their sales to Surfers Against Sewage, a marine conservation charity, and donate period pants to Days for Girls International, which increases access to menstrual care and education. Similarly to other brands, WUKA has a blog with lots of period info, and they also support the Period Pants Tax Campaign, which aims to remove the 20 percent VAT charge on period pants.
Hey Girls is a social enterprise dedicated to eradicating period poverty in the UK, improving access to quality period products and educating people about their menstrual health. To date, they have donated 20 million period products to people in need. They sell ethical period products individually and through subscriptions, and fight for period equality through a number of amazing initiatives.
Grace & Green make organic cotton or organic bamboo period products, as well as reusable period cups, which they sell through one-off boxes or subscriptions. They work to create better access to period products for everyone who menstruates and support NGOs in the UK (Oxford Mutual Aid, Refugee Women of Bristol, Welsh Women’s Aid) and internationally in their battles against period poverty. They also launched their Workplace Initiative to help workplaces be safer spaces for people with uteruses.
READ MORE