Period Poverty affects people who menstruate on a global scale. More than 2.3 million people in recovering[1] countries do not have access to basic sanitation and hygiene services.
Tampons, pads, and other products are a necessity- but for millions of people in the United States and nearly 500 million people worldwide, they are considered a luxury. In low-income communities across the United States, nearly two-thirds of menstruators cannot afford supplies, barring them from attending school, work, and contributing to serious health issues like toxic shock syndrome and reproductive tract infections.
Periods have not entered the mainstream conversation about basic needs even though it is a fundamental piece of human rights and public health. For millions, the stigma and shame surrounding it can be life-threatening.
Twenty-seven U.S. states still place a “Pink Tax” on essential products like pads and tampons in comparison to non-taxed nonessential products targeted towards men like Viagra, Rogaine, and razors. When faced with the choice between affording food or unnecessarily expensive period supplies, women will resort to using shoe insoles, T-shirts, toilet paper, and other dangerous alternatives.
People who menstruate should not have to choose between food and period products.
The Pink Tax is rooted in sex-based discrimination and sustains the gender inequality that is deeply embedded in cultures around the world, and it is our responsibility to resist!
Please consider making a donation to us to help resist period poverty- donations received will go towards purchasing period products for people needing them.
[1] The terms “Third World” and “Developing Countries” are outdated and improper- those terms imply a hierarchy of societies, and suggest non-European, historically colonized areas are unequal to their “more sophisticated” counterparts- a suggestion inherently imbued with racism and ethnocentrism. A more acceptable term would be “Recovering countries”, as those areas commonly referred to as “Third World” or “Developing” are, in reality, the way they are directly as a result of colonialism and imperialism- and are now recovering.
-Olivia Morrison, CULTURE Society Incorporated