United Way BC fights period poverty with 570,000 menstrual products distribution

United Way BC distributed 570,150 products to communities across the province.

The organization, which supports communities across B.C., reports that period poverty impacts health, education, employment, and dignity, as some individuals are forced to choose between purchasing menstrual products and other basic necessities.

Lori Mayhew, United Way BC’s labour participation’s director, says the research began after staff members noticed increasing requests for menstrual products from organizations they worked with.

“We wanted to better understand the scale of the [period poverty] issue and the barriers people face in accessing menstrual products,” Mayhew says.

More than 120 organizations reported a need for nearly 7 million menstrual products, which started the campaign, Period Promise, 10 years ago.

Mayhew adds that affordability is one of the main causes of period poverty.

“Menstrual products are a recurring monthly issue,” Mayhew says. “There’s so many other expenses that people have, whether it’s housing costs, food, transportation, and so the affordability crisis for period products has not gotten any better.”

United Way BC partnered with Pacific Blue Cross, CUPE 1816, Always, and Tampax, who donated 373,632 menstrual products.

“People sometimes don’t have any product while they’re going through their period, and so they miss school, work, and medical appointments … — which impacts finances and the cycle just continues,” Mayhew says, adding that location, especially remote areas, also create barriers.

Manvinder Rayat is the founder of Barkat, a menstrual awareness initiative, and he agrees.

Rayat says the now KPU-based club began in 2021 after he witnessed a young girl experience her first period without support.

“On a random summer day, there was a 13 or a 14-year-old girl standing beside the street, having her first period, and she didn’t know what to do. People who were passing by were not helping either,” Rayat says.

The organization began in India — where menstruation is not often discussed — with online sessions with local doctors about menstrual literacy and hygiene. Rayat moved to Canada in 2022 where Barkat became a student club.

Rayat says providing menstrual products for free is important because some people still face financial barriers when accessing them.

“Menstruators have been heavily taxed just because they’re menstruating. The pink tax back in the day, then converted into something that women still have to pay today,” Rayat says.

“It’s really important to bridge that gap between what should be provided — for somebody’s menstrual cycles — and what is there that people can actually afford,” he says.

Barkat is currently working on a documentary project where menstruating people will share their first period experiences.

“[The] documentary would really help people understand its significance from somebody who actually experiences [menstruation].”