‘Period poverty’ campaign sees dozens of schools give free tampons to girls

People gather during a Period poverty protest opposite Downing Street in Whitehall, December 2017
PA

More than 120 London schools are being forced to hand out free sanitary products to girls who are struggling with “period poverty”, figures reveal.

Secondary and primary schools across London have signed up for deliveries of tampons and sanitary pads from the Red Box Project, a charity that provides period products to schools where pupils are in need.

Girls who cannot afford their own supplies can help themselves to sanitary items from a box with no questions asked. One London school worker said that without the boxes some students would have to “make do unsuccessfully” without proper sanitary products every month.

Organisers aim to ensure no young woman misses school because she has her period.

"We live in a middle-class area in Beckenham where you wouldn’t think it would be a problem, but it is" 

Bonnie Foster, school key worker

Bonnie Foster, a key worker from Langley Park School for Girls in Beckenham, which receives sanitary products from Red Box, said: “We live in a middle-class area in Beckenham where you wouldn’t think it would be a problem, but it is definitely a problem… People probably do not realise it is happening in primary schools as well.

“Girls in this situation don’t talk about it much when it happens — they use other means of dealing with it which are not successful.”

Mrs Foster said schools would otherwise use their own budgets to pay for sanitary products for girls who cannot afford their own. She said: “We used to beg companies for freebies or bought them from the school budget and could only hand them out on an as-needed basis. It could be awkward.

“Now the girls know we have provisions, they can come and ask us at any time of the day, no questions asked.

“It’s good that the girls feel they can ask us for them, and you can see who is coming and going, so it’s a good indicator for us to know who is struggling.”

The company It’s A Monthly Thing, which sends period products to women every month, is asking customers to donate surplus pads and tampons to the Red Box Project as part of its campaign to end period poverty.

In total, 121 schools in London benefit from the Red Box Project.

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