Bristol pledges to tackle period poverty

Around 140,000 girls and young women in the UK have missed school in the last year because they can’t afford to buy sanitary products.

The issue affects one in 10 females aged 14-21 – particularly those who are in receipt of free school meals – and many more are forced to improvise with items such as socks, tissues, napkins or newspaper each month.

Bristol has pledged to take a leading role in eradicating period poverty by making sanitary products available to all who need them, while also combating outdated societal attitudes to menstruation.

“It is certainly progress that we are at a point in history where this chamber can openly discuss women’s issues and periods,” said Helen Godwin, Bristol City Council’s cabinet member for women, speaking at City Hall on Tuesday.

Helen Godwin says the issue is one that shouldn’t belong in 21st Century Britain

Proposing the motion to tackle period poverty at the full council meeting, she continued: “Despite this progress, today’s issue is one that simply shouldn’t belong in 21st Century Britain and it is a travesty that we need to confront the huge issue of period poverty in our city.

“As we rapidly head towards ten years of Tory austerity, we find ourselves hearing stories of Dickensian poverty – foodbanks, malnourished children and women and girls using rags, socks, tissue and napkins as makeshift sanitary protection.

“I would like Bristol to lead the way and to be a trailblazer authority in terms of how we tackle this issue. I am not interested in an empty motion that promises much but delivers little. We can all be proud to be on our way to becoming the first city in the UK to effectively tackle period poverty.

“It is my hope then that our daughters and granddaughters will never have to consider whether they can afford to have their period.”

Next month, Godwin will hold a period poverty summit that will bring together relevant organisations to put a plan in place to ensure that all girls in Bristol from year five to 13 can access pads and tampons in school.

There are also plans to make sanitary products available in outlets such as libraries and work with organisations such as Fareshare to ensure donations of pads and tampons reach people who need them.

Bristol City Council intends to work with organisations such as Fareshare to ensure sanitary products reach women who need them

The motion gained unanimous cross-party support.

“It’s more expensive to be a woman than a man,” stated Claire Hiscott, Conservative councillor for Horfield, as she added her support.

“From puberty to menopause, it costs us cash that it doesn’t cost men. About £6-£10 a month.”

She added: “No young person should miss out on education because of poverty.”

Estella Tincknell spoke of the need for society to change its attitude to periods.

“Having a period is still a taboo – something to be dealt with in private while girls and women are expected to carry on with everyday life,” said the Labour councillor for Lockleaze.

“It’s time for recognition that this is not a women’s problem, it’s a social problem.”

Leader of the Lib Dem group Anthony Negus agreed, saying: “I’m proud that Bristol will be one of the very first councils to get behind this. For boys as well as girls and men as well as women, this is a very important subject.”

Also backing the pledge to tackle this “particularly pernicious impact of poverty”, Fi Hance urged the council to seek sustainable solutions, rather than advocating disposable products.

She reeled off the statistics to support the call, saying that 4.3 billion disposable sanitary products are used in the UK every year, with an estimated 700,000 panty liners, 2.5 million tampons and 1.4 million sanitary towels flushed down the toilet every day.

A lot of this waste said Hance, also ends up in our oceans: a 2010 Marine Conservation Society beach-watch survey found 23 sanitary towels and nine tampon applicators for every kilometre of coast.

“I’m not suggesting that the council throws money that it doesn’t have at the situation – far from it,” said the Green councillor for Redland.

“There are potential sponsors such as water companies who have in the past been happy to get involved in the promotion of reusables.”

Jasmine Tribe, of City to Sea, voiced her support for the motion, but joined the call for a long-term sustainable solution.

“We just want to make sure that we do not miss a really big opportunity to provide a long-term financially and environmentally sustainable solution, rather than just putting a plaster on it,” she said, speaking from the public gallery.

“It’s a huge problem for the environment and also a problem for the health of people using disposable products every month. By providing reusable products, the council can provide a long-term fix that’s better for health and better for the planet and also works better financially in the long-term.”

To fulfill the pledge, the city will take action to combat period poverty, particularly ensuring it no longer affects the education of girls and young women, make sanitary products available to all in need and seek to change attitudes that still see menstruation as a taboo subject.

Read more: Campaign to tackle period poverty in Bristol