New Study Reveals that Period Poverty Affects 1 in 10 College Women: What Does This Mean for Already-Declining Student Mental Health?
My peers at Boston University frequently compete over who slept the least before a midterm, consumed the most energy drinks, or worked the most jobs to pay for ever-increasing tuition while staying on top of schoolwork. While most Americans are familiar with these on-campus issues (sleep deprivation, the student debt and college affordability crisis, etc.), they are not familiar with period poverty- a crisis that is just as widespread. Period poverty can be defined as financial insecurity that limits or prevents menstruators from accessing safe period products, which can, in turn, prevent them from attending school or work.
A report recently published in a medical journal (BMC Women’s Health, February 2021) revealed a shocking statistic: 1 in 10 college students in America struggle to afford menstrual products every month. This means that in a lecture class of 150 students, 7–8 of them (assuming that roughly half of the class menstruates) may not be able to afford period products every month. Despite these numbers, many Americans do not believe that period poverty is an issue that affects them. The period-tracking app Flo conducted a survey among more than 200,000 users and the results were bleak: one-third of the users believed that period poverty is only an issue in developing countries and not in the United States.
This misconception is far from the truth. A study in 2019 showed that two-thirds of low-income women surveyed in the U.S did not have the resources needed to buy menstrual products during the previous year. The stigma that surrounds periods partially explains why most readers are unfamiliar with these shocking statistics. Americans tend to talk around rather than about periods. This becomes obvious when tampon and pad brands avoid the word “period” in commercials or replace it with euphemisms like “that time of the month” or “feminine hygiene.” This purposeful silence around periods exacerbates the shame that students who are struggling with period poverty feel from sharing their experiences or reaching out for help. Consider how many ‘broke college students’ are suffering in silence every month because of our collective failure to speak up about period poverty.
Furthermore, the BMC Women’s Health study (“Period poverty and mental health implications among college-aged women in the United States”) reveals that not only does period poverty affect 14.2% of college women (and 10% are affected every single month), but also that women in college who suffer from period poverty are also more likely to experience moderate to severe depression. Returning to the assertion that the United States is not exempt from period poverty, I want to emphasize that 92.6% of the participants in the study were born in the United States. This study is groundbreaking because it is the first study that examines the impacts of period poverty on mental health. During a time when college students are at high risk for worsening mental health (91% of college students reported negative mental impacts from the pandemic), period poverty should not be another obstacle for students. Education has been interrupted like never before in recent history. Students are already learning to navigate new technology (Zoom etc.), coping with the loss of loved ones to the virus, and becoming sick themselves; their periods should not be another obstacle on the strenuous path of earning a college degree.
It is now apparent that there is a connection between period poverty and depression. For the students who are burdened with the choice of buying food or a box of pads every month, this data is already a reality. The question to pursue now is no longer whether period poverty and negative mental health are connected; the question is what can we do to fix this? I suggest that colleges and universities should provide tampons and pads free of charge in student restrooms and dorms. Multiple colleges have already begun providing free period products (Columbia University, the University of Minnesota), so the request is not without precedent. I encourage readers to email their campus administrations and create petitions; in addition to supporting the 1 in 10 students on our campuses who are experiencing period poverty, talking about period poverty will decrease the stigma by which it is surrounded. PERIOD at Boston University (BU) has circulated an anonymous survey to gauge how common period poverty is on our campus and my peers and I will use the data collected to contact our administration; organize a survey at your school as well!
