Period poverty is not something most of us think about as we are sitting down to enjoy a nice glass of wine with dinner. But if your wine of choice for dessert is our PMS (Paul’s Mocha Stuff), you can be proud of doing a little bit to help out girls and women in the Yakima Valley so that they can continue to go to school and work every day of the month.
Period poverty is defined as a lack of access to menstrual products, education, hygiene facilities, waste management, or a combination of these needs. In recent years, there has been growing advocacy for equal access to menstrual hygiene products. Many people with low incomes lack menstrual hygiene supplies — often resorting to cloths, rags, toilet paper, paper towels, and even children’s diapers during their monthly cycles.
Theoretically, all schools in WA state are required to have free menstrual products in female restrooms. This is not happening adequately everywhere in the Yakima Valley, which is why we (and you) are supporting Freedom Kits of Yakima Valley. They also supply homeless shelters and food banks in our area. Here is their mission statement: Our mission is to open doors of opportunity for women and girls around the world by producing and donating washable/reusable feminine hygiene kits that will enable women and girls to stay in school and pursue education and career goals while managing their periods with dignity and independence. The women’s hygiene kits and other humanitarian aid items that we produce are donated free of charge to women and girls in developing countries and impoverished areas where the cost of disposable feminine hygiene items makes them inaccessible to the poor and thus severely limits education and work opportunities for women and girls.
And why isn’t this state law working? Here is one take: The schools have disposables, usually in the nurse’s office, that they can give out one or two at a time. Our local kits last 3-5 years and give the girls a lasting solution. They save them from going to the nurse’s office repeatedly every month and solve the evening/night/weekend problems as well. Plus, they are better for the environment! Perhaps they are not supplied in the restrooms because of vandalism?
Finally, here is a very interesting article about how a young girl in Germany made a difference in South Africa.
