Period Products

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As a girl, periods have come to be part of our monthly lives. As annoying and painful as they can be, it is the natural part of being a female. When you feel your period coming on, you can go into your bag and grab a pad or tampon… until you are 1 of 500 million women who don’t have access to menstrual hygiene products. In many parts of the US, when you enter a public bathroom, you will see a metal box by the sink advertising “25 cents” for pads or tampons. Although this may not seem like much, there is a 46% poverty rate worldwide where people can’t put food on the table, let alone spend 25 cents every time they need a new menstrual product. Over a lifetime, women can spend up to 18,000 dollars alone on period products. That can cover 5 years worth of healthy meals every day. Additionally, tax on menstrual products can be as high as 10% in some parts of the US, making the already expensive products more costly. 

In a world where 50% of our population is women, why are period products, something that every woman needs, so unaffordable?  Saying this, there are examples where our world makes these products more accessible. There are at least 22 states in the US (including NY, California, and Maryland) who have passed titles issuing that period products were to be made of no cost to students attending schools in those areas. Scotland was the first country to make period products completely free for their citizens, as well as eliminating taxes on tampons. There are also many non-profit organizations who fight for the same cause, such as Helping Women, Period… whose goal is to make period products more accessible to the poor. At our own high school, we have a club called MX Flow, whose goals are to run period product drives and donate them to local women's homes. However, this is not nearly enough. We need to keep fighting to make something so necessary more accessible. Support these nonprofits, and talk to your local schools. It only takes one to start a change.