How free period products can help reduce menstrual stigma

Six years ago, Jana Girdauskas was in her car at an intersection in downtown Toronto when she had an "aha moment."

Watching someone going from car to car asking for money, Girdauskas thought about the struggle they would have while menstruating.

"It's because I sit in my privilege and I've always been able to afford period products, I've never thought about that," Girdauskas told CTV's Your Morning on Tuesday.

According to Girdauskas, at some time in their life, 70 per cent of people will miss school or work due to their period.

"Those numbers are much higher in Indigenous communities because a box of tampons could be $45, if it's even available," she said. "Period poverty is real here (in Canada)."

According to research conducted by Plan International Canada Inc., in 2019, about 34 per cent of women and girls in Canada had to “often” or “occasionally” make budget scarifies to afford menstrual products.

Her realizations led Girdauskas to launch the Period Purse, a Canadian organization focusing on raising awareness of period poverty and creating a charity donating free menstrual products. It was the first registered Canadian charity focusing on period equity.

"I started to have an idea of one period purse, and to hand that out next time I saw somebody," she said. "And that led to 1, 11 and 300. And now the Period Purse has donated over 4 million period products."

Girdauskas said, oftentimes shelters and food banks do not have menstrual products available.

"It's not something we talk about and not something that's on top of mind," she said.

In 2022, the federal government launched a pilot project to distribute $25 million menstrual products, for free, over a two-year period. In an October 2022 update, the department of Employment and Social Development Canada proposed changes to the Canada Labour Code, giving employers flexibility in how to implement menstrual product access.

For years, some communities have been running drives aimed at donating menstrual products. In Windsor-Essex, Ont., for example, the annual Tampon Tuesday marked its sixth year in 2022.

Municipalities including Winnipeg and Mississauga, Ont., have launched projects providing free products in city-run buildings. The Salvation Army in the Halifax area held a drive in September, aiming to raise awareness around the stigma of period equity.

"Only half of us (all people) are comfortable talking about periods," Girdauskas said. "When we have that stigma, there's going to be less knowledge around periods and more menstrual health issues because of it."

Raising awareness can be bringing up the topic with family members and not hiding a tampon while walking to the bathroom, Girdauskas said.

"When we talk about it more, we will have more policy changes," she said.