Amika George writes open letter to Theresa May

Whenever that time of the month approaches, the discomfort of bleeding for days, accompanied by intense pain in some cases, is nerve wracking. Any girl in this situation already has a lot to deal with. But adding period poverty to the list is the most humiliating thing ever.
Growing up, there were times we didn't have enough to throw around and this stirred up the genius in me, using sanitary pads on my heavy days and tissue on my light days. They were well layered like a typical sanitary pad. Even though I always made sure I didn't stain the sheets, sofa, or my dress. Nothing I did could help them from gumming to my skin which I found disgusting. But I found comfort in my mom's tales which upstaged mine. 
As a teenager from a humble background in an underdeveloped village, she had no option but to rip her old clothes and line her pant with them. This was what new mothers used as a substitute for diapers too. In this modern age, some still do. Modernisation is free for all but can't be acquired by poverty. 

GLAMOUR UK asked Amika George - the kickass schoolgirl founder of the #FreePeriods campaign, which calls on the Government to provide free menstrual products to all children on free school meals, to pen an open letter to Prime Minister Theresa May.

Dear Mrs May,

One hundred years have passed since the remarkable suffragistsfought their relentless and determined battle to establish women as equals in society. Today, we still fight. We fight for equal pay, we fight against harassment, we fight for the right to control and make choices about our bodies.

Yet today, in the UK, there are women and girls who are denied the most basic and fundamental of human rights; thousands of girls across the country are unable to manage their periods with dignity. This is no longer something we can ignore. Mrs May, this is happening on your watch. This is happening right now.

Did you know that 137,500 girls missed a day of school last year because they couldn’t afford menstrual products? One in ten girls have been forced to improvise. 1 in 10 parents have admitted to sending their daughter to school without pads and tampons, and 6 per cent of parents have been so desperate, they’ve resorted to stealing on occasions they couldn’t afford them.

This situation will continue to persist whilst young people remain at the sharp end of poverty. The last few years have seen a rapid rise in food bank usage; the Trussell Trust, the UK’s largest food bank network, has recorded a sharp spike in the number of emergency food parcels distributed in the past few year.

When families are faced with the ugly choice of eating or buying pads, there isn’t much of a choice at all. Young girls are often sent to school without adequate protection. They are unable to focus in class, preoccupied by thoughts of whether their period has gone rogue, if they’ll make it out of the classroom stain-free, with their dignity intact. Others are missing school entirely while on their period, impacting their academic progress and attainment. At a time when a girl’s world should be burgeoning with dreams and ambitions, period poverty diminishes her opportunities.

Kenya has repealed tax on menstrual products, and last month pledged to distribute pads to every single one of it’s 4.2m schoolgirls in its public schools. Kerala, a state in Southern India, is handing out period protection for schoolgirls in a bid to keep girls in school when they menstruate. Scotland has reached a pivotal moment in the bid to fight period poverty and is on the cusp of introducing a universal system to provide menstrual products to whoever needs them. Yet, the UK seems to be lagging behind in our will to provide access to menstrual hygiene management; indeed, your government is still questioning whether period poverty actually exists despite a groundswell of research and evidence.

The cost of funding in the UK would be trivial, especially when compared to the monumental £35bn price tag on Trident; it’s an investment in the future of young people and provides an escape from the clutches of poverty and deprivation that can thwart the lives of future generations. We need better menstrual education in schools for both boys and girls delivered in an empowering tone, stripped of shame and stigma. Girls should feel proud to bleed, and know that periods should never be hidden under a cloak of embarrassment and apology.

We hear the cries for change ringing louder with each day that passes. Today, our collective message is this, no matter what age, race or gender no child should ever be held back because of her period.

Here, here, Amika!