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What Is Period Poverty And Why Should I Give AF?

The sitch is pretty dire.

Emily Hooley
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Thursday, March 15, 2018 - 11:28

Period poverty. You may have heard of it, but do you actually know what it's all about?

Check out when MTV News spoke to J-Law, gal-dem, and period poverty activists Amika George and Grace Campbell...

Fear not because we’ve got all the answers, so next time period poverty comes up you’ll be totally clued up and woke AF. And take it from us, you deffo need to be clued up.

What is it?

Period poverty means not being able to access sanitary products when your period comes around because of financial constraints. Simple, right? Well it gets complicated.

Why is it a problem?

Being able to use sanitary products like tampons, pads or a mooncup when you’re on your period isn’t a luxury (though shockingly sanitary products are often taxed as luxuries), it’s an absolute necessity. Without them girls aren’t able to manage their periods in a safe, private and dignified way – which is a basic human right.

Period poverty can make girls feel too embarrassed and uncomfortable to be at school on their periods because they’re scared about their classmates seeing and bullying them for it. Girls experiencing period poverty often use unhygienic materials like socks or bits of newspaper to stuff their pants as a cheap replacement for pads.

In some areas of the world, girls stop going to school altogether once they start menstruating, or they stop because missing school during their period has meant they’ve fallen too far behind in their studies. Stopping education then means they have a greater chance of falling into child marriage and early pregnancy.

Girls around the world are putting their hygiene and health, and even their education, at risk because they can’t afford sanitary products, so it’s a very real problem with very real consequences. These products are as essential as toilet paper, and even more urgently necessary. Not enough is being done to make sure women have the products they need every month, partly because people are still so scared to talk about the taboo that is periods.

Definitely another reason to be a feminist, ppl.

What are the stats?                                                                                     

According to a report by UNESCO, 1 in 10 girls in sub-Saharan Africa miss school when they’re on their periods. The World Bank states that in Kenya alone, one million girls don’t go to school due to lacking sanitary pads. We’re talking BIG numbers, worldwide.

The fact that (according to UNESCO) out of 50 low-income countries, on average only 51% of schools have adequate water sources and only 45% have adequate sanitation facilities doesn’t help matters. As most girls can probs vouch for… no one wants to use a dodgy loo around that time of month.

Period poverty isn't just affecting girls in developing countries - it's big in the UK too. In fact, a Plan UK 2017 survey found that 1 in 10 girls in the UK have been unable to afford sanitary products. 

What can we all do to help?

All around the world, periods are still taboo, so one of the best everyday things we can all do is talk about periods. Cos guess what? They’re the most natural things in the world, and nothing to be ashamed of.

Lifting taboos always clears the way for change, and we deffo want change. We want every girl around the world to be able to access sanitary products and decent toilet facilities at school. Period.

Action Aid is a charity that works on that. They build period safe rooms in schools for girls where there are toilets, sanitary products, spare clothes and showers, so that students never have to let being on their periods get in the way of learning. They also make sure girls have access to better period education. So why not donate to them? In fact, they do a special gift where for £3 you can give menstrual hygiene kits to girls in crisis who can't afford sanitary products.

You could also donate to The Homeless Period in the UK, which provides homeless women with free sanitary products.

There are also petitions to sign. Once the truth about how many girls were living in period poverty in the UK came out, Free Periods leader Amika George created a petition to demand that all girls who are granted free school meals would also receive free sanitary products. Why not sign it? You could also sign this petition which is asking for free sanitary products in all UK schools.

Above all, remember: you've got the power to change things.

18 Inspiring Celebs Who've Spoken Out About Their Mental Health

  • "I suffer from depression and was a model during a particularly rough patch of self-hatred...I'm focusing on filming and trying to learn not to pick apart my every flaw" - Cara Delevingne
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  • “If there’s anyone out there going through [depression], I think for them to see that I went through it, it would help… for a long time I used to think...strong people in life... they just get on with it” - Stormzy
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  • “I really felt like I was dying – my light completely out. I said to myself, ‘Whatever is left in there, even just one light molecule, you will find it and make it multiply’… I learned that my sadness never destroyed what was great about me” – Lady Gaga
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  • “Anxiety is nothing to be ashamed of; it affects millions of people every day. I know I have fans out there who have been through this kind of thing, too, and I wanted to be honest for their sake, if nothing else” – Zayn Malik
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  • “I had to stop because I had everything, and I was absolutely broken inside. And I kept it all together enough so that I’d never let you down but... I let myself down… if you are broken you do not have to stay broken” - Selena Gomez
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  • “My anxiety and depression have ruled my life for as long as I can remember and I never leave the house because of it... I’m tired of being held back in my life. I deserve to have peace. I deserve to be happy and smiling. Why not me?” - Kid Cudi
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  • “It’s so normal. Everyone experiences a version of anxiety or worry in their lives, there’s nothing wrong with you. To be a sensitive person that cares a lot, that takes things in in a deep way, is actually part of what makes you amazing” – Emma Stone
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  • [About his OCD] “I remember my makeup artist and assistant walking me to the set and going, ‘Oh God, we’re going to need 10 minutes... he has to walk back and step on that thing, touch the door and walk in and out again" - Leonardo DiCaprio
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  • “You can’t let panic or anxiety change the way you do things because you get one life… I’m never going to get back the years that I’ve wasted being too terrified to ever leave my house” - Zoella
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    9 of 18
  • "Mental health disabilities are an illness, not a weakness. They are an issue, not an identity. It’s ok to suffer from a mental illness, but it’s not ok to not talk about it" – Jack Harries
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    10 of 18
  • “[My fans] know that I've struggled with depression, and [they tell me that I] helped them get over theirs. That gives me a big purpose—a reason to wake up in the morning” - Miley Cyrus
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    11 of 18
  • “I’m struggling just to get through the days. I think a lot of people are. You get lonely, you know, when you’re on the road. People see the glam and the amazing stuff, but they don’t know the other side. This life can rip you apart” – Justin Bieber
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    12 of 18
  • “Not being able to leave the house [because of panic attacks] was so debilitating… I couldn’t go to the studio unless I was lying down in the car with a pillow over my face. I used to beat myself up about it” – Ellie Goulding
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  • “[When filming Deadpool] I never, ever slept… The expectations were eating me alive… Blake helped me through that. I’m lucky to have her around just to keep me sane” – Ryan Reynolds
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    14 of 18
  • “[My eating disorder and self-harming] was a way of expressing my own shame, of myself, on my own body… There were some times where my emotions were just so built up, I didn’t know what to do” – Demi Lovato
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    15 of 18
  • [About a documentary in which he cried] “It scared me that people were going to see me at my most vulnerable… but that conversation changed everything… everything was out in the open and I was able to then talk to my friends about it” – Professor Green
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  • “I had to reprogram myself to see the good in me. Because someone didn’t love me didn’t mean I was unlovable. That’s what the break-up of my marriage reduced me to. It took away my self-esteem. It beat me down to the lowest of lows” – Halle Berry
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  • “Antidepressants help! If you can change your brain chemistry enough to think: ‘I want to get up in the morning; I don’t want to sleep until four in the afternoon. I want to get up and go do my s**t and go to work’. Reset the auto-meter" - Jon Hamm
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