Menstrual Hygiene Day
Women in Prison is celebrating Menstrual Hygiene Day!
What is Menstrual Hygiene Day?
Menstrual Hygiene Day is an annual awareness day, which aims to break the silence and challenge the stigma and negative social norms surrounding periods, as well as, promote the importance of good ‘menstrual hygiene management’.
Around the world, millions of women, girls and individuals who menstruate, are unable to access the education, period products and safe, hygienic toilets they need in order to manage their periods with confidence and dignity. In the UK alone, one out of every 10 girls aged between 14 and 21 years is unable to afford period products.
Without the tools they need to practise good menstrual hygiene management, women, girls and individuals who menstruate are missing school and work, and are at risk of experiencing negative physical and mental health outcomes. They are being held back from reaching their full potential in all areas of their lives.
Menstrual Hygiene Day is an opportunity to raise awareness about this issue and bring about sustainable change for everyone who experiences a period.
Why on the 28th of May?
Started in 2014, Menstrual Hygiene Day falls on the 28th day of the 5th month, because on average, women, girls and individuals who menstruate will experience a menstrual cycle of 28 days, and will have a period which lasts for 5 of those days.
What are we doing to support Menstrual Hygiene Day?
In recognition of Menstrual Hygiene day 2020, our ‘Healthy Foundations’ project funded by the National Lottery Community Fund, which supports women affected by the criminal justice system to identify and address their health needs, has put together a set of ‘Period Confidence’ health promotion materials.
These materials, which include a poster and leaflet, will be used to open up conversations about reproductive health with the women with support and empower them to manage their periods with confidence and dignity.
For more information about period poverty and the menstrual hygiene day