Flushing away Period Poverty
- Elena Roberts
- 5 days ago
- 3 min read
It’s a Monday. You're stuck in meeting number four, that could have been an email, and now, you’ve got that awful but all too familiar feeling. No you’ve got to buy new undies and spend another $10 on tampons. I was lucky to grow up in a household where my mum was open and told me about menstruation. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case for most girls, as the natural process faces taboo and educational barriers on a global scale.
The World Bank estimates that around 500 million menstruating people lack access to sanitary products and facilities such as a clean and private toilet - referred to as facilities for menstrual hygiene management (MHM) - defined as a safe place to change and clean when menstruating. In simple terms - a toilet where the door can lock.
The ABC calculates the average lifetime spend of a menstruating person is a shocking $10,000 on sanitary products. Which may I add, are a necessity, not a luxury. The ‘tampon tax’ refers to the tax on sanitary items, although some countries do not have a tax for these items, others do, with Hungry and Sweden having a tax rate sitting in the high twenties.
Period poverty is a topic that just exhausts me. I don’t enjoy standing in the coles aisle, deciding which tampons are the best value for (a large amount of) money. But I know it’s so much worse for others, on a national and international scale. In 2005 Chhaupadi practise was deemed illegal by the Nepalese government. Chhaupadi was a cultural practice in which a menstruating woman would have to be isolated in a hut, with the dangers of the natural elements, weather and animals. Although this practice is banned in Nepal, the misinterpretation of menstruation to be ‘dirty’ is a global problem. The taboo creates a lack of understanding, lack of MHM facilities and a lack of essential resources, such as the sanitary pad. It’s disheartening to think about all the people suffering, not just from cramps, but from the lack of resources to. The World Bank and the United Nations are driving change on an international scale, as are many charities and NGOs such as The Pad Project and The Taboo, that let customers in Australia buy a product for someone who can’t afford it. And Period. are helping advocate for the tampon tax cut in the US whilst simultaneously donating period products to communities. Most NGOs and charities run off donations and government grants, but with shortening pockets, there needs to be a more prominent monetary solution.
Meet ‘On The House’ where your box of tampons becomes a billboard. Founded by an Australian entrepreneur Remy Tucker who has a marketing and public health background. She is a genius, and her idea is that advertisers pay for their advert to be on the box, thus paying for the box and the sanitary products it contains, therefore it’s free for the consumer. It’s like how social media apps are free, because businesses pay to advertise on the platforms.
I look forward to seeing ‘ON THE HOUSE’ grow, and for my basic needs, and what the 2 billion menstruating people also need, to be free. We can flush out period poverty through education, conversation, funding and investment in MHM facilities, and ideas such as ‘On The House’. What idea do you have that would end period poverty?
Read further about Period Poverty
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