#EndPeriodPoverty

By Megan Rouse, Intern, Friends of the Children

In our country, one in five girls will miss school because of something that occurs every month: Their period.

This isn’t because of the pain, worry or embarrassment that already comes with puberty and dealing with this biological function, but because of a larger and mostly unseen issue called ‘period poverty’: the lack of access to feminine hygiene products.

In an effort to keep girls in school and provide these taken-for-granted products to those who can’t always afford them, Always, Walmart and America’s Promise Alliance have joined together to create a solution and raise awareness.

As part of their #EndPeriodPoverty campaign, they are providing nonprofits who serve girls with one year’s worth of feminine hygiene products.

Friends of the Children was one of the nonprofits who was awarded this generous gift. We have successfully distributed a wide array of feminine hygiene products to our chapters.

Impact on learning and extracurricular activities

Growing up and finding who you are is already difficult, but if an adolescent girl is lacking confidence because of this shortage of essential products, it can cause girls to miss important school time, extracurricular activities and sports, which can limit a young woman’s potential far beyond their adolescence.

As young teen girls enter the classroom without period protection, they will be distracted, uncomfortable and worried, oftentimes missing school completely. This means they could fall behind in their classes, miss homework assignments, see grades decline or miss finding their spark and love for a subject.

What all of these repercussions of period poverty do is limit a girl’s potential.

In a world where girls have so many more opportunities than they had in the past, where more women are in college than men, where more women are in Congress than ever before, this basic lack of an essential product could limit a girl’s potential to even strive for a position that wasn’t available in the past.

We are grateful to Always, Walmart and America’s Promise Alliance for empowering our teen girls with peace of mind and confidence! Take some time to read up on this issue and share.