The issue of inaccessible period supplies has only been made more dire during the pandemic. To mark the nation’s second annual period poverty awareness week, advocates for menstrual equity and legislators are pushing for revised education on reproductive health that includes menstrual health, and they want approval of increased access to period products — including the removal of taxes — for students, incarcerated individuals and those who are experiencing homelessness. 

Before the pandemic, Chantal Alison-Konteh, an 8th grade teacher,  noticed that her students would sometimes sneak a few tampons and pads from the school bathrooms — not only for themselves, but also for their siblings, mothers or caregivers at home.

New York is only 1 of 4 current states where public schools provide free menstrual products. And even so, Alison-Kobteh has heard students and parents claim that school bathrooms still had machines charging 25 or 50 cents for products. 

During the pandemic, Alison-Konteh worried for her students. What are young menstruators going to do without access to period supplies at school? she wondered. But Alison-Konteh, who left her teaching job to run Her Village, a nonprofit that works to supply people with period supplies and other hygiene products, also knows the problem is global. 

“If someone cannot afford food, if they cannot afford to feed themselves, which is the most basic need, they cannot afford diapers, they cannot afford period products. They cannot afford hygiene items,” Alison-Konteh said. “It’s a domino effect.” 

A new study released this week by Kotex showed a 35 percent increase in period poverty since 2018 in the United States; around 2 in 5 people who menstruate struggle to purchase period products due to a lack of income, according to Alliance for Period Supplies. Additionally, 1 in 5 low-income menstruators report missing work, school or similar commitments due to a lack of access to menstrual products.