Health Issues
Lack of access to period products can cause improper menstrual
hygiene. This can lead to diseases like toxic shock syndrome, which
can be fatal. Period poverty also forces some women to miss school.
This lack of education makes teenage marriage more likely and
therefore miscarriages more common.
Stigma
Girls who menstruate are ostracized from basic activities like
working, going to school, and socializing. These missed
opportunities have an emotional toll and can result in mental health
issues like anxiety and depression.
Missing Commitments
Without access to menstrual products, many women and girls are
forced to miss work or school. In the US, nearly 1 in 5 girls have
had to miss school or leave early because of period poverty. 36% of
women surveyed have had to miss work.
Tampon Tax
A regular sales tax that is applied to an item in a category
generally considered “non-luxury necessities,” which are typically
exempt from sales tax. Women's menstrual products are considered
luxury necessities and are taxed as such.
Incarcerated Women
With more than one million women behind bars or under the control of
the criminal justice system, women are the fastest growing segment
of the incarcerated population increasing at nearly double the rate
of men since 1985.
The AB-367 Bill
This bill would enact the Menstrual Equity Act of 2021, which would
require any California-based school, maintaining a combination of
classes from grades 6 to 12, inclusive, to stock at least 50% of the
school’s restrooms with free menstrual products at all times, on or
before the start of the 2022–23 school year.
