End Period Poverty
Girls in poverty will miss almost one third of a school year, simply because they are a girl. And in countries around the world, including more than half of U.S. states, women and girls are taxed for period products. The average cost of sanitary products in one month is between $25-$30 monthly or almost $400 per year. On average, women have their periods for roughly 36 years; the cumulative costs will be over $10,000 over their lifetime. (Source: The Huffington Post)
As early as age 9, the majority of girls will begin menstruation. This launch into womanhood constitutes many changes to their lives. For girls with meager and limited resources menstruation introduces new and more stressful financial burdens. The consequences of which can impede their educational achievements. The effects are compounded for those who experience financial distress. Girls who live in poverty often do not have the funds to buy sanitary napkins. As such many will miss up to one week of school per month—a total of 3 months per school year because of their periods. These are often the same girls who are eligible for free and reduced lunches. Therefore, many girls will stay home hungry and in pain. We are punishing women and girls for having bodies that reproduce.
This problem of punishing women for having their periods is ubiquitous across the globe. Yet 100 percent of the population requires that women menstruate. The hypocrisy is clear.
GrassROOTS has taken a global approach to the issue of period poverty. Together with our partners, we have provided over 100,000 sanitary napkins to thousands of girls in the US, Jamaica and Ghana—yet that is not enough (SEE OUR VIDEO). Our goal is to educate community members about these issues as well as engage and partner with individuals, organizations and policy makers to help address this important health resource issue.
GrassROOTS’ Board member Lisa Maxwell and SuperGirl Amina Anekwe have collaborated together as a mother-daughter team to lead this social justice initiative. Learn more about each campaign here:
Help us in stopping period poverty today. You can support this worthy cause in 4 ways:
1.Donate financially to support ship/transport supplies to point of need.
2. Send menstrual supplies via AmazonSmile.
3. Join our awareness campaigns.
- MARCH: Women’s History Month (SEE CALENDAR EVENTS)
- OCTOBER: Red Dot Day & Period Awareness Week (SEE CALENDAR EVENTS)
4. Write to your legislature to end tampon tax.
- You can use mail or call each senator. Or text “resist” to 50409. Click here for the address and phone number for your senator.
- End Tampon Tax Letter Templates for United States, Ghana, Jamaica. Click here.
- General Script:
“Dear Senator [Last Name,] I am [Full Name of town, zip code]. I am writing to ask you to support legislation to end the sales tax on sanitary products. Girls and women in our community are suffering because of this tax on our bodies. Many of our community members cannot afford the high cost of sanitary products. Sales tax means that even more women and girls will not be able to afford hygiene products.
Please join New Hampshire, Delaware, Montana, Oregon and Alaska and end the sales tax on all feminine hygiene products. Women and girls should not be taxed for what their bodies do naturally. With your support we can end period poverty and discrimination against women and girls.Please support it. Thank You!!”
End Period Poverty Database
Over the past year, we at the GrassROOTS Community Foundation have been working to build a comprehensive and international database of those who are working to #endperiodpoverty. We have created a database of organizations and supporters from around the world who support ending period poverty. Please click below to see who is working on local campaigns near you.
Are you working to #endperiodpoverty? Do you know of an organization doing this work? Do they serve POC, members of the LGBTQIA+ disabled community or those who are incarcerated? If yes, we want to hear from you and include you in our database.
Click the button below to fill out the form.
Our annual event Roots Rock Run (R3) 5k is our fundraising effort to support the End Period Poverty program.