Period poverty and International Menstrual Health Day

Originally sent as a newsletter.

Written in 2020, 6 years ago. Tools and advice may have moved on since.

Happy belated International Menstrual Health Day,

I know my tech, but by deciding to create an app in the menstrual cycle space I have been trust into a world of activism that had I had forgotten about.

Since I was a teenager May 28th has become the International Menstrual Health Day. This specific date was selected since the average menstrual cycle is 28 days, and the average menstruation is 5 days.

I remember talk of “luxery tax” on sanitary pads way back when I was a teenager, but I was sure this had been remedied. At least in my own country. I was wrong!

There is still full sales tax on sanitary products in Norway, and the same is true in many American states.

However this is just peanuts compared to the situaton in refugee camps where girls are trading sex for pads. Or the number of girls missing school because of the lack of sanitary products.

I encourage you to educate yourself on period poverty and if you find any good resources please send them my as I am still a n00b in this space.

To start, here is a good introduction by the Norwegian Peace Center.

In a later email I hope to share links to specific projects you could support to help this cause, but I want to my research first.

• Benedicte