Aiming to eradicate period poverty
Whenever she needs money is precisely the time Falynn Shaw finds herself falling short.
And when it comes to her period, menstrual products are not something she can momentarily ignore, like a cellphone bill.
“You have to find that money. It’s not something you can just not afford,” said Shaw.
For Shaw, and the one-third of Canadian women under the age of 25 experiencing period poverty, menstrual products are not a luxury. Canadian Public Health Association estimates spending $6,000 in their lifetime.
As much as Shaw would love to have a stack of tampons ready and waiting in her bathroom, she’s never in a place where she has an extra $10 lying around.
An accident in 2012 left Shaw struggling to work a “regular job.” She’s been on disability since 2017 and for a while, everything was OK — the price of rent was reasonable enough and she had extra money for necessities.
But now, with inflation and increasing rent, “I’m paying more than what is allotted and there’s just way too much month, and not enough money.”
Shaw wasn’t always in a situation where she was “poverty stricken,” and still counts herself lucky. One of the main health concerns with period poverty is the overuse of tampons, which can lead to toxic shock syndrome.
“You’ve got women on the street or women in shelters (where) they’re not going to be 100 per cent clean, like you would if they had their own place,” Shaw said. “It’s an issue all around, with a lot of things, when it comes to feminine hygiene.”
Shaw is hoping campaigns such as Period Promise — led locally by United Way Niagara will help eradicate period poverty, but she also hopes Canada will take a page from other countries and do its part to help eliminate the stigma.
Shaw said if they can’t be free, products should be accessible and “at the lowest price possible.” Because right now, the high price of feminine products “makes it really personal.”
“You don’t have to a feminist to see this, or know this, but if men had periods we wouldn’t be having this conversation. They would probably have them delivered to the door.”
Locally, District School Board of Niagara launched the Menstrual Equity Initiative, which made products available in designated bathrooms at every school, and easily accessible. It is working on installing dispensers in gender-neutral washrooms for select schools.
This month, Niagara Catholic District School Board will install 70 dispensers in its schools as part of the Period Project Campaign, with two in every high school and one in every elementary school, alternative school and continuing education school.
Research from the Always Confidence and Puberty Survey showed one in seven Canadian girls have either left school early or missed school entirely because they can’t afford or access menstrual products.
“It’s a tiptoed around topic. Not a lot of people really talk about it, which makes it a shameful thing almost,” said Hill.