Dignity in a handbag for homeless women
GO Purses project taps need
For most women, getting your period is a monthly inconvenience that can be managed with a trip to the drugstore.
But if you’re homeless, getting your period is more than just an inconvenience — it’s a potential crisis.
Most homeless women don’t have access to proper sanitary and hygiene products, says Katherine Kalinowski, the assistant executive director of programs at the Good Shepherd. Pads and tampons — as well as soap, toothpaste, and shampoo — are extremely expensive and cumbersome to carry around when you don’t have a bathroom of your own.
As a result, many homeless women are faced with a choice: buy sanitary products, or buy food. When women can access pads and tampons, they often use them for longer than they should — something that can lead to potential infection.
Feeling clean is often a luxury that’s out of reach for women who are homeless, Kalinowski says.
“Women often rely on public spaces like shopping centres and restaurants,” she said. “They’re often not welcome and asked to leave those spaces. There isn’t a lot of dignity in doing your morning routine in a coffee shop or shopping centre.”
Denise Davy, a freelance writer who lives in Burlington, has started a campaign to help homeless women access hygiene products. Called “Purses for Margaret,” the campaign involves collecting gently used women’s purses filled with sanitary pads, tampons, toothbrushes, wet wipes, combs, deodorant, socks, and mitts.
Davy, a former Hamilton Spectator reporter, named the campaign after Margaret Jacobson, a woman Davy met while on assignment at a homeless shelter. Jacobson, who suffered from schizophrenia, died in 1995 after falling and hitting her head in a Mr. Sub, where she’d sought warmth from the cold. It took four 911 calls from the sub shop before paramedics arrived nearly two hours later.
“Margaret, when she was really at her most ill point, would leave a trail of blood behind her on the sidewalk. She used to not wear pants under her coat,” Davy said.
“I just couldn’t believe that somebody that ill could be on the streets in Canada. … We’re known for our kindness and compassion, and we have people sleeping on the streets.”
Davy based Purses for Margaret on a UK campaign called Helping Handbags. She collected donations and filled 64 different purses with hygiene items, which were dropped off at Mary’s Place at the Good Shepherd Centre on Dec. 6 — the anniversary of Margaret’s death.
Davy spent roughly $150 to
help fill the bags, mostly because she didn’t receive enough donations of pads and tampons.
“It’s pretty important we talk about it,” she said. “We’re giving them these items, and yes, it’s about hygiene, but it’s also about giving them back their dignity. Being homeless as a woman is different than being homeless as a man — you’ve got all of these other health issues to deal with.”
Menstruation is not something that’s often discussed publicly — so much so that Chinese swimmer Fu Yuanhui made international headlines for stating that she performed poorly during a race at this summer’s Olympics because she had just gotten her period. When it comes to homeless women — some of our society’s most marginalized — the issue becomes even more taboo.
“Women’s homelessness remains a very hidden issue,” said Kalinowski. “Many of the women I’ve met have become very adept (at) finding the shadows — staying hidden for their own safety.”
Davy hopes that Purses for Margaret will be an ongoing project and is currently seeking out some form of corporate support.
Yolisa de Jager, the director of Good Shepherd Women’s Services, helps to oversee Mary’s Place. Together with her staff, de Jager will be in charge of delivering the purses to clients at the shelter.
De Jager says there’s a larger meaning and symbolism to a project like Purses for Margaret.
“It speaks to an immediate need, but it fills more of an emotional need as well,” she said. “It’s a reminder that the community does care for individuals who are struggling, and who are dealing with homelessness.”