Period Poverty
Awareness Week

May 20-28, 2024

The Alliance for Period Supplies created Period Poverty Awareness Week to draw attention to the issue of period poverty and the negative impact it has on people who menstruate.

We encourage everyone to join the movement and become advocates to help #endperiodpoverty – start a conversation about period poverty, host a virtual product drive, donate to the Alliance for Period Supplies or a local program, or do one of many other things, from right at home.

What is period poverty?

Half of the population menstruates. We all know plenty of people that have a period. But not everyone knows that one in four people struggle to purchase period supplies due to lack of income. This is called period poverty, and chances are we each know someone who has experienced this need — a neighbor, a co-worker, a friend.

No student should have to miss school, no adult should have to miss work, and no person should have to miss out on daily life because they are unable to afford the material basic necessities they require to thrive.

Alliance for Period Supplies is a national organization working to ensure that individuals in need have access to the essential period products required to participate fully in daily life. With your support, and that of our founding sponsor U by Kotex®, we are improving lives.

A growing need.

A 2021 study conducted by U by Kotex® revealed that two in five people have struggled to purchase period products, a 35% increase from the brand’s initial research in 2018. Earlier data inspired U by Kotex® to become the founding sponsor of the Alliance for Period Supplies in 2018, and to help people to affected by period poverty. The new data was released in conjunction with Period Poverty Awareness Week 2021.

The study also uncovered how period poverty is disproportionately impacting Black and Latina people, as well as how COVID-19 exasperated this public health issue. Key findings include:

A quarter of Black (23%) and Latina (24%) people with periods strongly agree that they’ve struggled to afford period products in the past year.
27% of all respondents said the COVID-19 pandemic made it difficult to access period products, with two-thirds (65%) of those who have struggled stating they lacked access because they could not afford them.
Over one-third (38%) of low-income women report missing work, school or similar events due to lack of access to period supplies.
Nearly seven in ten (68%) people agree that period poverty is a public health issue, yet only 4% of Americans are aware of a local resource where free or reduced cost period supplies are available.

Read the full news release here.

A copy of the findings is available here.

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