Sophie Waters
There are teenage girls in the UK who are skipping school when they have their periods. And we’re completely shocked.
When police officers noticed that a lot of girls in Leeds were missing school, they started to look into it. It turned out that when girls from low income families were on their period and couldn’t afford tampons or pads they were skipping school to avoid the embarrassment of their home-made toilet roll pads failing.
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An average pack of tampons costs costs between £2-3 and you can use between 1 and 2 packs per period. That’s 12-24 boxes of tampons which can cost up to £50 a year. Just on sanitary products. For low-income families, that’s not an amount of money they can spare.
Freedom 4 Girls are a charity that have been focusing on providing girls in Kenya with the proper sanitary products. And now they’re extending their efforts to raising awareness in the UK. We chatted to them to find out more about what they’re doing.
“We are working together to tackle the inequalities felt by girls not just in the UK but all over the world. We want to question why there is still stigma and discrimination felt by girls and women the world over. We all need to be united whatever culture, religion or country we are from and talk more about periods.”
We took to the Twitters and spoke to you guys about all things periods and tampons.
QUESTION: Do all females have the right to sanitary products?
— Maximum Pop! (@maximumpop) March 15, 2017
Duh.
QUESTION: If you had no access to tampons/sanitary pads while on your period would you skip school?
— Maximum Pop! (@maximumpop) March 15, 2017
We would too, tbh. Our classmates wouldn’t be forgiving about periods.
QUESTION: Should schools provide pupils with tampons/sanitary pads for emergencies?
— Maximum Pop! (@maximumpop) March 15, 2017
AGREED. We think that having a teacher that every girl knows they can go to in an emergency is vital.
QUESTION: Do you know anybody who has skipped school because of their period?
— Maximum Pop! (@maximumpop) March 15, 2017
Periods SUCK.
QUESTION: Have you ever missed school because of your period?
— Maximum Pop! (@maximumpop) March 15, 2017
Who wants to go to school when you already feel like crap? Add in worrying about tampons and no thanks.
QUESTION: Do you think tampons/sanitary towels are too expensive?
— Maximum Pop! (@maximumpop) March 15, 2017
Obvs.
Here’s what we think: that ridiculous notion that sanitary products are a luxury item? Get rid of it. Now. Girls’ education are suffering for that tax and it’s not worth it. And it looks like you guys completely agree with us.
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