THE FIGHT FOR FREE PERIODS

Campaign artwork by Amy Lea

#FreePeriodUK went from a passion project to the fight against period poverty as Sophie Cummings decided to become a young advocate for female rights.

Many girls and women in the UK are still victims to period poverty, with little to no access to sanitary products this impacts many aspects of their lives as they try to use alternative products such as socks or toilet paper. It’s a serious and unacceptable problem resulting in young girls not receiving equal education due to taking days off school, low income families not being able to afford the products, and the 68,000 current homeless women menstruating

on the streets. In the past year period poverty has finally been highlighted by the many young women stepping up to demand change in order to end to period poverty.

Sophie Cummings is a 22-year-old classroom assistant from Belfast, Northern Ireland. She has always been a very proud feminist, but decided to become an activist to fight against what she describes as the injustice that is period poverty. Sophie created a petition two-years-ago called Free Period UK after realising the impacts of period poverty were only rising. “Giving women the empowerment to raise their voices and join me in the fight against period poverty is my goal,” said Sophie.

Sophie Cummings, founder of Free Period UK

The aim of the petition is to supply all those who are in need of sanitary products a satisfactory monthly supply free of charge, regardless of their financial and living situations. Sophie explained, “I volunteer with a local charity that help people who have been victims of human trafficking and asylum seekers, I saw that without food banks and local charities the women could not afford sanitary products and would have to potentially make a choice between them

and other essential items, such as food.” Figures show that there were almost 40,000 applications for asylum in the UK in 2016, many being women who have had to seek asylum due to their own state failing to protect them against gender persecution crimes such as domestic violence, sexual crimes, honour crimes, forced marriages, female genital mutilation or honour crimes. Asylum seekers are given a weekly allowance of £37.75 while their application is being processed, which is often not enough to also budget for sanitary products that are currently sold in the UK with a 5% tax applied.

Period poverty doesn’t only effect asylum seekers. A study conducted by Plan International found that one in ten girls in the UK have been unable to afford sanitary products. Sophie realised the problem was more wide scale after reading about how some women and girls would use crumpled up newspaper, toilet paper or socks while menstruating due

to not having access to or being able to afford sanitary products. “We should not have to pay for a biological process that we didn’t ask for, society has accepted the fact that we pay for our period; I wanted to challenge that.” Said Sophie.

Sophie’s petition had almost reached its goal of 2,500 signatures when she received an email on behalf of Matt Hancock, the Secretary of State for health and social care, responding to the aim of the petition. “At first it annoyed me; annoyed because they said ‘that products allowed

on the NHS prescriptions should be for treatment of a medical condition, which include diagnosis and prevention.’ Menstruation is a medical condition that for some women is so severe they cannot get out of bed due to cramps and are physically sick due to PMS (premenstrual syndrome).” But the negative response hasn’t stopped her from pursuing the petition and her aim of ending period poverty.

Progress is finally being made to fight period poverty. Britain’s finance minister Philip Hammond announced that starting September 2019 all secondary schools will supply free sanitary products to its students. The new development came after the shocking statistics were brought to light from a survey that found 50% of girls in the UK had skipped school while on their period due to not having access to proper menstrual products. Sophie shared her opinion on this matter, “I think the stigma around periods needs challenging. The impact this is having on teen girls is quite severe as they don’t open up about how periods are affecting them and the feeling of being ashamed can impact their mental health greatly.”

It has also been announced that from 2020 it will be compulsory for schools in England to teach all students about periods. Sophie said, “Normalising conversations and attitudes to periods would help society and how they view menstruating in general. I think the new curriculum is a fantastic opportunity for girls to understand their periods in a deep and clear way so they are able to understand for themselves and also educate others and be confident in how their own bodies work.” The new curriculum will be taught to boys and girls together in the same classroom, discussing the physical, personal and social aspects of menstruation. Sophie said, “Educating boys is so important as I think the stigma around periods needs challenging especially when men in our society don’t necessarily understand periods. By educating them at a young age it can help them sympathise with women and understand what women go through. I think this could eliminate period costs in the future as the future generation will be more educated about periods.”

With only a few hundred signatures away from the petitions target, Sophie looks forward to the change she is hoping her petition will bring. “The future of Free Period UK is exciting to plan and look forward to! My hopes for the future is that all women in the UK have a free and dignified period. Within the next year I would like the campaign to grow more and reach others. I am enjoying this time period I am in spreading the word and meeting like minded people who want to join me on this crazy adventure that is fighting period poverty.”