Charities ‘Hey Girls’ and ‘Bloody Good Period’ staged an event aimed at tackling period poverty at Birmingham City University.
‘Hey Girls’ is a social enterprise which produces environmentally-friendly period products that fund the UK’s anti-period poverty campaign.
The other charity at the event, ‘Bloody Good Period’, supplies period products to those who can’t afford them and provides menstrual education.
Free goody bags containing leaflets, sanitary products and self-care items were given to students and a raffle to win reusable ‘Hey Girls’ products took place.
BCU is part of the UK Government’s Period Poverty Taskforce and their campaign, ‘breaking the taboo,’ aims to help people manage their menstrual health.
Gemma Williams, research fellow of the campaign, attended the event.
She said: “Period poverty in the UK has worsened over the two and a half years of the pandemic.
“The cost of living crisis will also have a significant impact on this.
“The taboo around periods and menstrual stigma is very strong and many schemes are targets at school children and secondary schools.”
The Arts, Design and Media’s SSA team currently provide free sanitary products within the toilets at City Centre campus out of their department budget.
However, this isn’t a permanent solution and university-wide funding is something that Gemma said she would like to see implemented.
She added: “Other Universities offer help with sanitary products but Birmingham City University doesn’t as of yet.”
Leaflets and posters handed out at the event included a ‘Handbook for dads’ on how to talk about periods with daughters and de-stigmatise the topic.
Gemma said: “Slowly things are beginning to change but in male-dominated organisations, the menstrual stigma and taboo is still very prominent.”
If you would like to find out more about period poverty visit the charities below:
https://www.bloodygoodperiod.com/
https://www.heygirls.co.uk/
If you are a Birmingham City University student and would like to find out more, contact your faculty SSA.