Did you know #Scotland is the first country in the world to protect in law the right to access free period products for anyone who needs them? Not sure how it’s working out, because I don’t live here. But I’ve noticed free tampons and pads in the toilets of the hostels where I’ve been staying and also on a ferry while here.
Also mentioned it in my Substack post https://amyfallon.substack.com/p/everything-i-saw-at-the-edinburgh
#women #menstruation #mhm #periodpoverty
#PeriodPoverty
Thank you for doing what you do.
It isn't a unique problem. Fortunately there are people like you who are helping relief. They probably miss school if not for you.
Examples (not complete list) of people helping in other countries
Australia: https://www.sharethedignity.org.au/ or https://tabooau.co/pages/taboo-foundation
Melbourne: Victoria rolls out free pads and tampons at public vending machines across Melbourne https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/nov/14/melbourne-free-sanitary-product-vending-machines-launch 13 Nov 2024
New Zealand:
Free period products for schools -https://www.education.govt.nz/education-professionals/schools-year-0-13/administration-and-management/period-products-schools and sports clubs https://sportnz.org.nz/resources/making-sport-inclusive-free-period-products-in-clubs/
Also some organisations working on this too, many started before the policy for giving it free to schools. However they are still needed https://www.theperiodplace.org/ and https://www.dignitynz.com/ are two examples
@mutual_aid@hexbear.net @mutual_aid@starflower.space @MutualAidVisibility @mutualaid @anarchomutual @blackfedi
I'm out of tampons just one day into my cycle!😭
#BlackMutualAid #MutualAidRequest
#BlackMastodon #queermutualaid
#HelpFolksLive2025 #Queercrowdfund
#disability #disabilityaid #actuallyautistic #periodpoverty #MutualAid
Earthwise Girls 40% Closing Down Sale 😢
Having spent many years fighting period poverty and raising awareness through the business, the amazing Earthwise Girls is sadly closing its doors and offering 40% off all remaining stock.
Some of the achievements of Earthwise Girls:
- Donated thousands of reusable period pads to The Nasio Trust to fight period poverty in rural Kenya (over 12,000 pads in the last 5 years alone!)
- Supported UK charities, period poverty groups, schools, colleges and universities with low price or free sustainable period products.
- Took reusable period products to local farmers markets, eco markets and even to Wallingford Carnival.
- Went 100% plastic free from July 2017, receiving the Plastic Free Business Champion Gold Award from Surfers Against Sewage in recognition of their efforts to run Earthwise Girls as a plastic free, sustainable business.
- Successfully ran a successful small, family-business with as small an ecological footprint as possible for many years.
A massive congratulations to Christine, Nora and Earthwise Girls for everything they’ve done. Wishing you the best in your next chapters.
Amazon expands customer donation campaign with leading household brands to tackle hygiene poverty in Swansea
Amazon has joined forces with its suppliers of well-known household brands including Reckitt, Unilever and Beiersdorf to deliver over 200,000 essential hygiene products to families in need via The Multibank charity.
The campaign will support Cwtch Mawr Multibank in Swansea.
For every two eligible products purchased by customers on Amazon between now and 30 June, Amazon and its supplier partners will donate a third item to The Multibank at no additional cost. All people have to do is visit this page on Amazon.
The campaign launches with new research, commissioned by Amazon, which reveals that more than a quarter (28%) of adults in Wales are worried about being able to afford basic hygiene products, such as toothpaste, soap, or laundry detergent, over the coming months. The research also found that one in ten adults in Wales (14%) have rationed or avoided buying hygiene essentials.
Almost all (93%) of adults in Wales highlighted that feeling clean and presentable is vital for their children’s confidence and mental wellbeing, particularly significant during the upcoming summer holiday period, when school-based support is less accessible.
The Multibank was co-founded by Amazon and former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown in response to the high levels of poverty and deprivation he had witnessed in his local area in Fife, Scotland. There are now six Multibanks across the UK, which have distributed more than 8 million essential items to support over 600,000 families nationwide. This latest campaign builds on the successful launch of the ‘You Buy. We Donate.’ initiative in January, which saw more than 200,000 hygiene essentials donated to Multibanks across the UK
Eugenie Teasley, Head of Impact, Amazon UK, said: “We know families across the country are facing incredibly tough times, and we want to help. Working closely with The Multibank charity and other businesses, we’ve been able to donate over eight million essential products to more than 600,000 families, but we know there’s much more to do.
“This summer’s ‘You Buy. We Donate’ campaign is an opportunity for shoppers to easily make a difference, simply by buying their everyday products. Together, we look forward to donating even more items and helping thousands more families get the support they deserve.”
Cherrie Bija, CEO of Faith & Families & Cwtch Mawr Multibank, said: “At Faith & Families, we believe that childhood matters—and that strong families and connected communities are essential for children to truly thrive. In the 2024–2025 financial year, we supported over 108,000 individuals, we distributed more than 471,000 essential goods across our network of charity partners and in Faith in Families community cwtches in Swansea.
“Every item we provide—whether it’s a blanket to keep warm or toothpaste to brighten a child’s smile—is part of a collaboration of compassion. Together, we are pushing poverty away from our children and restoring dignity to families in crisis.
“We are grateful to Amazon customers supporting the ‘You Buy. We Donate.’ campaign. Your faith in our work fuels our mission and brings hope where it’s needed most.”
Brands participating in ‘You Buy. We Donate’ include Alberto, By Amazon, Clearasil, Dettol, Dove, Durex, Finish, Harpic, Lynx, Mama Bear, NIVEA, Radox, Shea Moisture, Simple, Sure, Toni & Guy, TRESemmé, Vanish, Vaseline, Veet, VO5 and Woolite.
Transport logistics specialists Palletline will provide free logistics support, handling the storage and distribution of donations to Multibank regional hubs across the UK, with Amazon providing additional transportation routes.
#Amazon #CwtchMawr #FaithInFamilies #hygienePoverty #Multibank #periodPoverty #poverty #Swansea
#Menstruation and gender equality: Student movement revisited 50 years on
Now, as "period poverty" — referring to those who are unable to afford menstrual products — has become a social issue, former members of the group have compiled materials from their activities and self-published a reference book titled “Gojunen-me no Seiri Yohin” (“50th Year of Menstrual Products”).
Amid the global space race of the 1960s, Japan had its own quiet revolution: The launch of its first mass-produced disposable menstrual pads. But who were the people behind the societal shift? https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/03/07/japan/science-health/history-japan-tampon-menstruation/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #sciencehealth #womensissues #periodpoverty #health #history #menstruation
Despite advances in technology of period products, so called '#PeriodPoverty' is still a huge issue in #Australia.
A survey has found 64 per cent of people who menstruate were unable to afford pads, tampons or other products to manage their period at some point in their lives.
https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/worldtoday/period-poverty-a-national-problem/104776638
#PeriodPoverty rife despite new products and changing #MenstrualStigma
The Share the Dignity report that showed a boom in reusable products also found 64 per cent of people who menstruate had struggled to afford any kind of period product at some point in their lives. #Menstruation #MenstrualCups #PeriodUnderwear
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-12-20/period-products-change-but-poverty-still-an-issue/104714010
Let's celebrate the good news in our lives 🥳 🥳 🥳
Morrisons [a UK based supermarket] gives out free sanitary products to those in need if they ‘ask for Sandy’
#PeriodPoverty undermines the education of #girls and young #women https://bit.ly/3YZGOY9
Girls and young women around the world are missing school days, because they lack the resources to adequately manage their #MenstrualHealth and hygiene.
Period poverty also has dangerous & immediate health consequences for girls & young women, pushing them into early and #ForcedMarriages, #SexualAbuse, or female genital mutilation #FGM – because their period is seen as their “coming of age.”
#PeriodPoverty undermines the education of #girls and young #women https://bit.ly/3YZGOY9
Girls and young women around the world are missing school days, because they lack the resources to adequately manage their #MenstrualHealth and hygiene.
Period poverty also has dangerous & immediate health consequences for girls & young women, pushing them into early and #ForcedMarriages, #SexualAbuse, or female genital mutilation #FGM – because their period is seen as their “coming of age.”
Female Tourist Gets Interrogated by Border Control Guards About Her Tampon - Newsweek
https://www.newsweek.com/female-tourist-gets-interrogated-border-control-guards-tampon-1948421
#Tampons
#BorderGuards
#BorderControl
#Gambia
#Senegal
#PeriodPoverty
#Periods
#MenstrualProducts
#Africa
#Walz was an admired HS football coach who also advised a nascent #GayStraightAlliance. The Minnesota governor & Democratic VP nom wears outdoorsy flannel shirts but also sews his own buttons onto them. He is governor who made #MenstrualProducts available at #PublicSchools &, when *#conservative* critics later dubbed him “tampon Tim,” didn’t balk as his supporters quickly reclaimed the moniker as a badge of honor.
The latest episode of GOSPod is out:
https://gospod.chat/e/campaigns or on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2zzGbydOzg or on PeerTube: https://fediverse.tv/w/nsR5mjbmDZ7C5HZyp2uNUQ
as well as the usual places - Spotify, Amazon etc.
#podcast #podcasts #satanism #PeriodPoverty #Facism #AntiFacism #Antifa #music #blackmetal #alt #homophobia #transphobia #poland #uk
Understandings of "inclusive innovation" vary in #InnovationStudies & in #STS, but generative answers can be found at the two fields' intersections
Read @ShobitaP article on #MenstrualHealth in India: https://doi.org/mcq9
Voting has started!
If you want #OpenStreetMap to include information which toilets have menstrual products available you should vote now!
Instructions are on the bottom of the page
https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Proposal:Menstrual_products
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