Written by: Gurleen Aujla, Peak Associate
Period poverty is “the lack of access to menstrual products and facilities to use them safely.” It is a “symptom of poverty” due to the cost of menstrual products and their classification as a “consumer good” versus an essential item.
The Period Promise Research Project report from United Way reveals that 26% of people who menstruate in BC have experienced a period without access to menstrual products.
According to United Way, the data collected in this campaign provides the “most comprehensive image of period poverty in BC.” The data on the challenges people in BC face when attempting to access menstrual products comes from a public survey and information from 12 community organizations.
The Peak spoke with Neal Adolph, the campaign’s staff lead, to discuss the issue.
Adolph said period poverty requires “a more nuanced bundle of solutions,” which doesn’t stop after gaining universal access to free products in washrooms. Approximately 51% of survey respondents indicated they had struggled to purchase products for themselves.
United Way found disposable products were important, as they’re accessible for people without “access to [the] secure housing or clean water” needed to clean reusable products.
However, the survey revealed when some people received reusable products, such as a menstrual cup or menstrual underwear, “they were able to substantially reduce their anxiety around when they would menstruate and be able to support themselves.”
Adolph explained universal access to menstrual products would be “a huge leap forward” and an “incredible achievement,” but “there’s a real risk that we set that as the end goal.”
Instead, he said it should be to reduce the prevalence of period poverty in the province, “so that people don’t have to make choices between what they’re going to do with menstrual products and what they’ll do without menstrual products.”
Period poverty is systemic and impacts a person’s lifestyle. Survey findings revealed 36% of respondents had left school and 22% had missed work due to the inaccessibility of sanitary products.
The impacts of period poverty are not equally dispersed, and inaccessibility is heightened for many marginalized groups. For instance, compared to the 26% average, 47.14% of Indigenous respondents reported going through a period without menstrual products.
Adolph highlighted around “80% of people with disabilities in our province are struggling to purchase menstrual products for themselves, [which] isolates people.”
He explained gendered awareness for people who have transitioned or are non-binary must be considered because “if we’re actually building solutions that are trans-focused, you’re sometimes building solutions that will work for supporting everyone.”
For post-secondary institutions, period poverty also “becomes a barrier for access to education.”
There are several institutions providing free menstrual products, including University of Victoria and the University of Northern BC. Thompson Rivers University plans to provide them starting in the fall.
It doesn’t have to be so hard for students to access menstrual products on campus, Adolph explained. Change can occur to allow people to “continue to focus on the work that they’re paying for the opportunity to focus on.
“Change is possible, and change is happening. We just oftentimes need to convince people to go through that change with us.”
Read the full report here.
