Discuss any recent civic, national, or world event of your choosing.
Lacking access to menstrual products, particularly due to an inability to afford them, is known as “period poverty”; an issue affecting millions of Americans today. Period poverty is a significant barrier to opportunity, as it prevents women from accessing an education, being involved in their community, and advancing in the workforce. Having a period should not prevent women from living life to its utmost potential, and yet, that is precisely what is happening for everyday Americans who struggle to afford menstrual products.
After learning how significant the need for free menstrual products is in my community, I began my internship with ACT Bennington and embarked on a mission to combat period poverty in Vermont. Locally, I led an initiative to re-introduce free menstrual products into high school bathrooms, so that all students have universal product access. On the state level, I am working with the Vermont Commission on Women to monitor public school compliance with a law mandating that menstrual products be provided for free in public school restrooms. I will be executing community outreach to make Vermont schools aware of this law by providing resources and insights on how each school can comply. My leadership in this initiative is crucial because I come from a school district that is considered “high-need” meaning inaccessible menstrual products have a direct impact on this population.
Period poverty is a public health epidemic that is too often ignored because it only directly affects biologically female individuals and because of the intense stigma surrounding periods. For decades, women have been taught that periods are “shameful”, “gross”, and “taboo”. Half of the U.S. population will have a period in their lifetime, and yet we are conditioned to believe that the topic of periods should remain unmentioned. This stigma is emotionally harmful and isolating, as well as detrimental to public health policy addressing period poverty and access to menstrual products as healthcare. Severe consequences come with treating periods as “taboo”, most notably misinformation that can cause women to leave products in for too long and risk toxic shock syndrome, not knowing how to use certain products, or being afraid to ask questions about their cycle.
The fact that millions of Americans go without access to menstrual products is no coincidence; it is a result of systematic misogyny. This misogyny takes shape as the “tampon tax” which taxes menstrual products as “non-essential” items despite their crucial role in managing periods. This tax is a blatant example of systematic and economic oppression that not just targets women, but targets under-resourced women who already struggle to make ends meet, placing women at a significant disadvantage to their male counterparts. Thus, the tampon tax hinders the success of everyday women by producing a financial barrier to healthcare.
In the land of opportunity, women everywhere are forced to put their dreams aside because of an inability to afford menstrual products. To eradicate this issue, lawmakers must implement comprehensive public policy that treats menstrual products as the essential healthcare they are.
