A campaign for increased access to free menstrual products

Here’s a staggering stat: half of everyone in BC who menstruates – women, girls, non-binary people, and trans folx – has struggled to purchase products for themselves at some time in their lives.

It’s more than an inconvenience. Limited access to menstrual products – known as “period poverty” – can be a health risk. And period poverty can stop people from reaching their full potential.

Families skip out on important social events. Single moms have to make tough choices at the supermarket. These sacrifices have an impact on all of us—not just those who menstruate.

United Way Southern Vancouver Island (UWSVI) doesn’t think it’s fair to make people make these impossible choices.

That’s why UWSVI is launching the 2024 Period Promise campaign this May. The campaign is a public push to increase access to free menstrual products so that everybody who menstruates can go to work, get to school, access services, and stay connected to their community.

Many know UWSVI supports a network of local social service agencies doing good work in our great community. But UWSVI also champions social causes, like period poverty, inviting the public to unite with them and help change social norms.

“Shouldn’t society consider tampons, pads, or liners as essential as toilet paper?” asks Erika Stenson, UWSVI Executive Director. “Period poverty is an important conversation in which we can all participate, and it’s easy to take action to make life easier for people struggling with the issue.”

United Way BC data show that at least half of people who menstruate will struggle with access to products at some point in their lives. The consequences could mean missing a job interview, class, or an important community event, which limits one’s access to opportunities and overall quality of life and health.

• 26% of people who menstruate in BC say that they had gone through a period without having menstrual products available to them;

• 13% of people who menstruate in BC say that, as dependents, their families has not been able to afford menstrual products on their behalf;

• 30% of people say that they haven’t known where to access menstrual products they could afford when their period has hit.

Stenson identifies two ways that locals can easily and immediately tackle the issue: anyone can join UWSVI’s product drive for menstrual products, and workplaces can offer free menstrual products in their washrooms to staff and customers.

On May 25, just before International Menstrual Hygiene Day, UWSVI will collect donations of tampons, pads, and other menstrual products, hoping to fill an entire BC Transit bus at the Saanich location of Save-on-Foods. UWSVI will also collect cash donations specifically for this campaign.

Local charity Soap for Hope will use the cash donations to purchase even more menstrual products and will distribute all the products to a network of local agencies.

For workplaces, social clubs, teams, and any other group that wants to start a product (or cash collection) drive to help Fill the Bus, UWSVI has assembled a toolkit full of helpful resources, available at uwsvi. ca/periodpromise/toolkit/.

Since 2023, many local organizations and workplaces have committed to providing free menstrual products in their washrooms and have signed on to the UWSVI’s Period Promise Policy

Agreement.

If local businesses, organizations, and workplaces are already providing free menstrual products in their washrooms, it’s an easy step to sign the Period Promise Policy Agreement – and earn a spot on UWSVI’s online map of signatories.

For more information about the Period Promise campaign, to start a workplace product drive, or to sign the Period Promise Policy Agreement, visit uwsvi.ca/periodpromise.