Period poverty is not an issue we tend to think of as affecting people in a first world country like the UK - rather we think of women and girls in far less well-off places struggling to acquire basic necessities like tampons and sanitary towels.
However, a survey back in May 2022 by Action Aid showed that nearly one-in-eight women in the UK had struggled to afford products in the previous six months. Even worse, a further survey in June 2022 by Plan International found that nearly one-in-four girls aged 14 to 21 were unable to afford period products. That survey found that young women up and down the country were cutting down on essentials like food and school supplies in order to afford sanitary products.
These are horrendous statistics. No-one should have to be worrying about the cost of these vital products, and to think a quarter of young women are unable to afford them is appalling.
What’s more, these statistics are from more than a year ago, before the government tanked the economy, when the cost of living was only just beginning to bite for most people. Given the squeeze on everyone’s wallets since then, we can only assume that things have gotten worse.
Late last year, thanks to a motion brought by the Liberal Democrats, Southwark Council became the first in the capital to start providing free period products in all council buildings. Following that success, the Lib Dems in Haringey are planning to bring a similar proposal to our next meeting of full council, in the hope that Labour councillors will also support this important scheme.
If our proposal is agreed, free period products will be made available in all the council’s public toilets and buildings, including libraries and community centres. We also hope to monitor whether local schools are participating in the UK government’s period product scheme, and encourage any who aren’t yet doing so to start.
We cannot stand back and allow any of our borough’s women and girls to go through the indignity of being unable to purchase period products, or being forced to cut back on other essentials in order to afford them.
- Luke Cawley-Harrison is councillor of Crouch End Ward and leader of the Liberal Democrat Group.
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