PERIOD POVERTY
The limited or inadequate access to menstrual products or menstrual health education as a result of financial constraints or negative socio-cultural stigmas associated with menstruation.
THE SCALE AND IMPACT: WHY IT MATTERS
Globally, an estimated 500 million of the 800 million people who menstruate daily experience period poverty. In the U.S., 2 in 5 adults struggle to afford period products, and nearly 1 in 4 students faces the same barrier — with lower-income students (34%) and Hispanic students (52%) most severely impacted. It is a symptom of deeper systemic inequities that falls hardest on those already marginalized.
THE SCIENCE OF PERIOD POVERTY
2025 STATE OF THE PERIOD STUDY
PERIOD. and Thinx
Breaking the Period Product Insecurity Cycle
Women's Health Journal (2024)Period poverty in the United States of America: a socio-economic policy analysis
Journal of Global Health Economics and PolicyPeriod poverty and its reach across the US
BrookingsMenarche and Time to Cycle Regularity
Apple Women's Health & HarvardFree Period Products in Schools
Alliance for Period SuppliesThe homeless period: a qualitative evidence synthesis
Taylor & Francis OnlineUsing Models of Menstrual Experience to Increase Impact
Irise InternationalImpact on Low-Income Women
College for Public Health and Social Justice, Saint Louis UniversityThe effects of COVID-19 have made it more difficult for lower income and minority women to afford period products when compared to 2018
U by KotexThe situation for US women post Roe v. Wade
Flo HealthMenstrual cycles today: how menstrual cycles vary by age, weight, race, and ethnicity
Harvard TH Chan School of Public HealthImpact on Mental Health
BMC Women's Health
DEEPEN YOUR UNDERSTANDING OF PERIOD POVERTY AND MENSTRUAL EQUITY
Menstrual health and equity curriculum, and resources from partners across the menstrual movement.
