We Need to Talk About Menstrual Access in Schools.

The time is now.

Imagine waking up and missing a school day or a whole week; not because you’re sick, but because you do not have access to a basic necessity. This is a reality for many menstruators around the world. Access to menstrual products is an often forgotten and ignored reason for students missing school. In Sub-Saharan Africa, menstruators are estimated to have missed twenty percent of the school year.

While conversations surrounding menstrual stigma have become more mainstream, the effects of the stigma are still prevalent. How connected menstruation is to other global issues, like education, should be noted. Since access to menstrual products is often defined by socio-economic status, the gap between rich and poor students widens as poorer students miss schools.

So what’s the solution? One potential way to alleviate the effects of this issue is by calling for school bathrooms to have menstrual products. According to Oxfam, access to period-friendly bathrooms significantly increased attendance. Another approach would be decreasing the cost of menstrual products by ending the tampon tax. Doing so will make access to these products more available to all.

Access to menstrual products may be a challenge for students around the globe, but it does not have to continue to be. There are real solutions that can work and are working right now. Once these resolutions become prevalent, we will see monumental changes in the educations of menstruators everywhere.