Period Blues: Lockdown and Period Care Access
The recent Covid-19 lockdown has thrown a curveball in regard to period equity. The free period products for secondary school students, plus the occasional lucky uni student, are no longer accessible, not to mention the rising unemployment rates that lockdown brings. So, this inequity means the idea of a uterus utopia slips a little more out of our reach. It’s the beginning of October, so a global pandemic and growing inequity is a fitting and kinda scary way to start off the spooky season.
First, a quick recap of period poverty: it's a lack of access to period products, period hygiene and hygiene means. A common quote about the topic is summed up by the artist, Maia Schwartz: “Menstruation is the only blood that is not born from violence, yet it's the one that disgusts you the most.” Recently, Massive got in touch with Danika Revell, Chief Executive of The Period Place, a charity dedicated to achieving period equity in New Zealand. The Period Place has been active since 2017 to increase period visibility, which comes hand-in-hand with decreasing period inequity. The Period Place has since formed partnerships with businesses like the Warehouse, and they've had talks with the Government about period equity. Yet during the lockdowns, demand has outstripped supply. During last year’s lockdown, The Period Place donated around 300,000 period products to people in need. Yet, during the latest lockdown, they’ve donated 107,000 in three weeks alone. Although, since this article has been published, it could be more. Danika said there’s a “long waiting list” for people wanting period products and that many people have to go without period products. When money gets tight, period products are usually the first thing to go.
Sure, this pressure means more people are talking about periods. Yet, on the other hand, period products have become less accessible for many. Before the lockdown, The Period Place and the Auckland City Council were trialing putting sanitary bins in all bathrooms because, as Danika said, “periods have no gender”. Yet, data to show how many people are affected by period poverty leaves much to be desired. There isn’t strong data that looks at the whole population of New Zealand and is generally cis female-centered. Periods are becoming more common in younger people too. Danika aims to get primary schools to have sanitary bins in bathrooms. Often kids have to go to the teacher’s lounges to deal with their periods, which creates an ”othering” experience. Danika said that even using the term “inclusivity” can be othering and make people who are not cis-gender women feel excluded from mainstream period discourse.
“There’s a lot of mahi that happens behind the scenes,” Danika tells us. This work includes collaborations with other period charities, big and small. They emphasise that “there should be more period charities”. The Period Place has also developed a period equity ladder, which shows how period product access combined with period education contributes to period equality. But with the long waiting list for free period products and the financial recovery some people will have to face, Danika says, “like Delta, there will be a long tail of people who would need to rely on free period products”.
The Period Place has had partnerships with other organisations like the Warehouse, which donates one pack of pads or tampons for every 10 packets sold. Yet due to a decrease in period product sales, these contributions from Warehouse have slowed down. The period equity movement also contributes to achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. I had learned about them last year and have already forgotten most of it. Right now, I suppose the priority is keeping society from falling apart. But, once we’ve made it out of this long Covid-19 tunnel, we can start making more progress towards these goals once again.
Some people whose menstrual health is most affected by Covid-19 are single parents and students. Danika said some people who approached The Period Place for free period products have been using the pill to skip their period altogether. But like Danika mentioned earlier, “like Delta,” the number of people needing period products would be a long tail on the way to recovery from the period inequity setbacks of the lockdown. But while the Auckland lockdown especially has been lonely and difficult for many, more Covid-19 is the alternative. There will be more sustained support and a need for it for people in the future. Level 2 for Auckland would mean more people at work and more people getting back to living life, the period inequity gap will close a little, and people can hopefully get on their feet.