St. Louis Outreach to End Period Poverty
Unmet menstrual hygiene needs among low-income women in St. Louis, Missouri were uncovered in a research study conducted by Dignity Period board member, Anne Sebert Kuhlmann, and her team at St. Louis University.
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Nearly two thirds (64%) of women were unable to afford needed menstrual hygiene supplies during the previous year.
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Approximately one-fifth of women (21%) experienced this monthly.
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Many women make do with cloth, rags, tissues, or toilet paper; some even use children’s diapers or paper towels taken from public bathrooms.
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Nearly half of women (46%) could not afford to buy both food and menstrual hygiene products during the past year.
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There was no difference in menstrual hygiene needs by age.
Read more about the research in Newsweek.
Dignity Period is proud to be the reusable pad allied partner for the St. Louis Alliance for Period Supplies.
Together we are fighting against period poverty and for educational equality for girls in St. Louis.
Working with Cotton Babies to manufacture reusable menstrual pads locally, and the St. Louis Alliance for Period Supplies to identify women in need, Dignity Period will distribute 500 pad kits throughout the community. Each pad kit includes 2 reusable menstrual pads and detergent for cleaning. Women receiving the pad kits will be educated on good menstrual hygiene and how to properly clean their reusable pads.
Meet the St. Louisans fighting to end period poverty in our city
Photo by Matt Marcinkowski.
To learn more, listen to this radio segment with outreach participants, or watch this interview with Angie Wiseman, Executive Director of Dignity Period.
This is not a luxury. It’s a need. It affects a woman’s sense of self, her sense of dignity and her ability to participate in life.
