It was great to see that Scotland has decided to make sanitary wear free. I want to do a series of images about period poverty and was doing a little bit of research into the cost of having periods. It was here I came across a post, I believe it was on Reddit or another similar platform, from a male dismissing the concerns from females and calculated cost of periods and therefore sanitary products as minimal. This guy did find relevant information but hadn’t taken into consideration anything that deviated from those numbers. I’m not surprised that he got it so wrong. He doesn’t have the experience of having a period every month after all. We can all make assumptions with the facts out there. Facts like:
An AVERAGE period cycle is 28 days. Mine is 25 days so technically I have an extra period each year. That’s approximately 40 extra periods I’m going to have in my lifetime above the average.
The AVERAGE length of a period is 3 to 7 days. There’s a massive difference in calculating costs between 3 and 7 days. Luckily I’m on the 3 day side so that balances out the extra period I have every year.
The USUAL amount of blood lost is 10 to 35 ml’s. Again quite a difference at each end of the spectrum. But there is more to just how much blood is lost. It doesn’t flow at a constant rate an there’s only a certain amount of time you should keep tampons in. Sometimes you’ll have to change your sanitary wear almost straight away. Sometimes you have to change it because too much time has passed despite not having much blood on it. Sometimes you have to change it because the damn tampon feels uncomfortable or the towel has scrunched up and the sticky side is sticking to your legs and not your knickers.
And because periods are so different, even during our own cycle, we may have to buy several sizes of tampons and/or sanitary towels plus panty liners to cover or needs. The guy in the article was right, you can bulk buy a ton of tampons for quite cheap but there’s a difference in quality between the brands. Would you want a brillo pad shoved where the sun doesn’t shine? I certainly don’t and wouldn’t expect any female to have to put up the extra discomfort of cheap and nasty sanitary products when she’s already having to deal with the period itself.
But the costs don’t stop there. No matter how careful you are, there are going to be accidents. The cost of cleaning or replacing sheets, knickers, trousers and towels after being bled on mounts up. How about the cost of pain relief? I’m one of the lucky ones who doesn’t suffer much from PMS but I still need to take pain killers every now and again. There are many who suffer terribly each month, needing a stockpile of pain medication, hot water bottles and even time off work. Can you imagine losing a few days pay each month from a natural bodily function?
And the cravings are real! For about 2 days in each cycle I just want to eat. And when I do eat I want to eat some more. So lets add on the extra food to the cost. Don’t forget that sanitary products are a luxury item and the government gets an extra 5% of our money.
But it’s not just the cost of all that is mentioned that is the problem. Face it, the majority of females do not earn the same levels of pay that our male counterparts do. We are earning less and paying out more just because we are female and have certain bodily functions. Women have enough to deal with every month (or more) just having a period, lets help each other out and shift the balance. If you can, make sanitary products a cost of doing business. Pay your employees fairly no matter what. Fight for changes in the workplace, in local and national policies. But most of all, don’t assume that people are making a big fuss over nothing when you don’t understand the situation.