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Given Poverty Awareness Week of the Period, in this edition of Addressing Taboo Topics, we take a look at how one nonprofit is speaking about the growing need for products from the period in the community and the adverse effects it will have has to be unable to afford these essential goods on a person.
National research studies report that one in four people who menstruate struggles to buy enough supplies due to a lack of income. This is known as period poverty. In the United States, 24.6 million people with periods cannot afford period products.
Michelle Old is the founder and executive director of the Diaper Bank of North Carolina, which was founded in 2013 to provide access to basic needs for North Carolinians. She said that people who need diapers usually also need contemporary products.
“When we started distributing diapers, we also found that mothers who couldn’t afford diapers couldn’t afford to take care of themselves,” said Old.
The “On the Spot” initiative was launched in 2016 to not only offer menstrual products to mothers and their families who have already received diaper bank services, but also to support menstrual workers in local schools.
On the Spot provides pads, tampons, black leggings and underwear to Durham Public Schools in elementary, middle and high school so individuals can focus on their learning rather than their basic hygiene.
“The more we can teach about menstruation from people who are out of school and work and who use socks and napkins every month to fend for themselves, the more people will be encouraged to do something about it,” said Old .
National surveys report that every fifth menstruating person misses work or school every month because of a lack of supplies. During the pandemic, Old said that demand had intensified and demand for historical products rose 800 percent at Diaper Bank in North Carolina alone.
“As a community, we all knew what it felt like when COVID first hit when we couldn’t find toilet paper,” Old said. “This is something that menstruating people experience every day when they live in poverty where they cannot afford this most basic need.”
According to their research, 78 percent of those who receive products from the diaper bank work one to three jobs. She said for those on lower incomes, period products can cost up to 14-16 percent of their monthly budget.
“There is a misconception about poverty in our community,” said Old. “What we see are families and individuals who work very, very hard – they care a lot about their families – and they still can’t afford the most basic needs.”
Since sanitary products are not covered by government aid programs like WIC and SNAP, Old says many individuals have to make difficult compromises at the expense of sanitary products in order to deal with them.
“Any time a family or individual chooses to support their families or themselves, they are going to forego the dignity they desperately need,” said Old.
In addition to the financial burden caused by the pandemic, North Carolinians generally pay more on historic products due to a “luxury tax”. Under North Carolina law, menstrual products are considered non-essential goods and are taxed at 4.75 percent, often with an additional 2 to 3 percent local taxes.
She said a total of North Carolina menstruating people pay $ 8 million in taxes on menstrual products annually.
Despite an obvious community need, Old said, there is still a stigma associated with periods and period products. This, in turn, makes it difficult for people living in poverty to get the help they need.
“This is something that people have a really hard time talking about,” said Old. “When we started talking about it, church groups or certain groups said, ‘Well, we’re going to collect diapers, but we’re not going to collect these historical products,’ and they whispered like it was an embarrassing thing to talk about. So we really realized that in all of our work we often have to destigmatize and talk about it. “
Click here to find out how you can support the On the Spot initiative.
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Read the latest issue of “Addressing Taboo Topics” in support of survivors of sexual violence here.
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