University News Last updated 11 February 2022
The government needs to increase efforts to improve menstrual health support, including the provision of period products, better education and easier access to care, according to a researcher who has been studying the impact of the COVID pandemic on these services.
Gemma Williams, a Research Fellow in Gender Inequality in Health and Menstruation at Birmingham City University, is one of the authors of a newly published UK Research and Innovation report, ‘Periods in a Pandemic’, which explored how the crisis has affected those struggling to afford period products or get other menstrual health support – what’s known as ‘period poverty.’
Gemma, who is also a member of the UK government’s Period Poverty Taskforce, said:
“Even before COVID came along, there were thousands of people across the country who were experiencing difficulties paying for tampons, pads and other period products or having problems accessing support services.
“In fairness, the government was taking steps to address this by setting up its Period Poverty Taskforce. Unfortunately, only a few months after the Taskforce’s first meeting, the pandemic hit, and health priorities shifted, which along with other factors had a knock-on effect for those experiencing period poverty. We wanted to find out how much of an effect.”
Gemma and her colleagues conducted research over an 18-month period from July 2020 to December 2021, collecting data from 34 UK services providing period products, menstrual health education and support to find out how they adapted. The team also surveyed 240 people across the county who had experienced period poverty during the pandemic to find out how they had been affected.
The team found that accessing period products became more of a problem during lockdown, with 85% of the people surveyed experiencing difficulties. But this wasn’t just because people couldn’t afford them. They also couldn’t find products in the places they usually got them. Places that had provided free products, like schools, were closed and, as with other everyday items, stockpiling saw supermarket shelves emptying.
Financial pressures did make the situation worse during lockdown however with period poverty services reporting that “new groups” of people, such as those who had lost their jobs or had seen their income reduced due to furlough struggling to afford items. These new groups also included those still in work, such as NHS staff who were contacting services for products as their workplaces didn’t provide them during long shifts.
Among those the team spoke to who had experienced period poverty during lockdown, 75% stated they had needed support or advice about their menstrual cycle while restrictions were in place and yet only 20% actually sought support from a medical professional. Reasons for this included not having access to safe and private spaces to attend GP appointments, not being offered alternative forms of consultation or because they felt their menstrual health was not important enough to contact their doctor about.
But amidst the challenges associated with lockdown, the research team uncovered examples of good practice, innovation and other positives. Period poverty services developed new ways of providing products like doorstep deliveries, promoted and distributed more reusable period products, and increased their use of social media, which helped them to support more people and connect with new community groups.
While welcoming these developments and the support these services provided throughout lockdown, Gemma believes it is down to government to lead and coordinate efforts to end period poverty as the country emerges from the pandemic.
Gemma added:
“Our research highlighted the detrimental impact that COVID had on those experiencing period poverty and while we appear to be emerging from the worst of the pandemic, we are now facing a cost-of-living crisis so the need for support is likely to continue.
“While there’s some great work going on at grassroots level, government really needs to take the lead. I’d like to see the Period Poverty Taskforce back up and running, and hope that there are practical steps to tackle period poverty outlined in the forthcoming Women’s Health Strategy, which is due to be published this spring.
Gemma has written in more detail about the findings of the ‘Periods in a Pandemic' report for The Conversation in article entitled ‘The Pandemic made period poverty worse in the UK – but also led to new ways to combat it’, published on Wednesday 2 February.