Period Poverty in Homeless People
Above is a video made by #thehomelessperiod to represent the problems faced by homeless women.
Lack of menstrual products for homeless women s something that is not often talked about, despite it being a huge issue that homeless women face every month. So who's helping?
The M3 Project
I spoke to Lynn Haworth from The M3 Project about what they do and the help they can offer to young people. This is what she had to say.
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Q: What is the M3 Project?
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A: "M3 provides accommodation and support for homeless young people aged 16-21 across East Lancashire (Rossendale, Hyndburn, Burnley, Pendle and Ribble Valley). Most of the young people that come to us have been moving form one place to another with no security (sofa surfing), relying on the goodwill of friends or acquaintances to a place to sleep, eat, wash and hopefully launder clothes. With no permanent address, young people find it hard to stay or start college, apply for benefits, apply for work etc. due to their unstable accommodation so it’s vital they obtain some stability before they move on to their own tenancy. M3 provides both the accommodation and relevant support so they move on positively."
Q: How did M3 start?
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A: "It started in 2003 when the local council and other agencies recognised a need in this area to support 16-25 year olds at the time. M3 was named to represent Moving out, Moving in, Moving on."
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Q: What are some achievements that have been made my the M3 Project since it began?
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A: "Since the project started, the teenage families service was developed and the Listening Project ( a peer mentoring service for 16-18) have been developed. Not sure on the date for the Teenage Family but the Listening Project started May 2017.
M3 became a registered charity in 2013.
We were nominated twice and won two awards – Valley at Work Best Non-profit 2015 and 2018 – in recognition of the work we do in the community and also our procedures, policies and business like approach to running the service."
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Q: Have you worked with any charities that work towards ending period poverty?
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A: "Just before Xmas 2018, Red Box charity donated some products to us. However, due the services we provide and the number of females, we don’t have a regular demand for help around period poverty."
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Q: How do the public react to your work?
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A: "The public are very sympathetic to our work and support us through our social media platforms by sharing posts and also attending fundraisers."
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Q: What can people do to help the M3 Project?
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A: "We only have a small number of regular donors and some who support with one-off donations and fundraisers. People have also donated goods but it is difficult for us to store items so this is done on a ‘when needed’ basis.
We need people to spread the word and support us through social media and word of mouth so young people are aware of our services.
We need more people to do their own challenges/fundraising events for us."
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So, What's Being Done?
"Having worked in a women's refuge I know that the things we had to stock up on the most because they presented a challenge to the budgets of our women in care were nappies, tampons and sanitary towels." - Jess Phillips MP
When homeless or without a permanent place to stay, women can barely afford food let alone menstrual products. Many people think that menstrual products are a basic human right and should be free. This would eliminate the problem that homeless women face, and make their already hard lives that little bit easier.
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In March 2019, a petition to make sanitary products free received 4,408 signatures. And for International Women's Day, Always launched a campaign that meant that for every pack of ALWAYS Ultra, ALWAYS Platinum, TAMPAX Pearl and TAMPAX Pearl Compak, the brands will donate 1 pack to a girl in need. By the time this ended on April 21st, the total amount of packs that was donated 19,478,180. This is a big deal in the movement for ending period poverty, but it's still not enough; This campaign was for students only.
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In order for the problem to be completely erased, sanitary products need to be free. The Government recently set up a scheme that provides free sanitary products for girls attending secondary schools and colleges, but what about primary school girls? Homeless women?
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A campaign called #thehomelessperiod (their video is featured at the top of this page) was started in 2016 by 3 interns at a London advertising agency called Oli, Josie and Sara. They set up the campaign with the aim of getting tampons and sanitary towels offered in homeless shelters for free, just as condoms are. The petition surpassed its goal of 100,000 signatures, instead receiving 110,000, and was then brought up in the House of Commons by Labour MP Paula Sherriff in December 2016. Unfortunately, no progress has been made since then.
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