Scotland becomes first nation to offer free sanitary products to fight 'period poverty'

Scotland has become the first country in the world to give free sanitary products to girls and women from low-income families as part of a pioneering scheme to tackle ‘period poverty’.

The six-month initiative, will be run by Community Food Initiatives North East (CFINE), a social enterprise focused on improving health and wellbeing for those in poverty, and rolled out across certain regeneration areas in Aberdeen.

It is hoped that at least 1,000 women and girls will benefit from the scheme, which is backed by funding from the Government.

The sanitary products will first be offered to women’s health and housing charities, as well as four schools, with a view to extending the programme should the pilot be deemed a success.

CFINE’s chief executive, Dave Simmers, believes severe austerity measures in the UK have lead to the growing issue of period poverty. Speaking to the Scotsman, he said: “It’s been quite clear the cost of sanitary products are pricey at the best of times and can be exorbitant for many women who don’t have cash to spare. The overwhelming reason for women and people in general suffering poverty is the implementation of welfare reform.”

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “The pilot will ensure access to sanitary products for local women in seven regeneration areas of the city, and inform the future approach to the issue across Scotland.”

The scheme follows recent news that British girls from low-income families are skipping school while they are on their period because they simply can’t afford sanitary products like tampons.

Freedom4Girls, a charity who traditionally send sanitary provisions to schoolgirls in Africa, was contacted by a school in Leeds after they found some of their female students were missing school because they didn’t have access to period products.

And MPs also recently discussed period poverty in the House of Lords and Commons, with Labour MP Helen Goodman questioning “whether the government offers any provision of female sanitary products for women who consider themselves unable to afford such products” in the House of Commons.

It was also recently revealed that school girls are skipping PE because they’re worried about people finding out they’re on their period.

The survey of 2,000 adult women, by period education programme betty for schools, revealed that almost half (46%) of young women say they’ve used their period as an excuse to miss PE.

The research also revealed the reasons women had given for skipping PE due to their period. Over a third of women (39%) cited a fear of leaking, while almost a quarter (24%) were concerned that their pads could slip or would be visible (24%).

The Scottish Government and CFINE project comes just under a year after Scottish Labour’s inequalities spokesperson, Monica Lennon MSP, urged the government to make a “firm commitment” to looking into the affordability of sanitary products, with a view to making them free to all women in Scotland.

Let’s hope this new initiative is a massive step in the right direction.

Follow us on Instagram and Facebook for non-stop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. For Twitter updates, follow @YahooStyleUK.

Read more from Yahoo Style UK:

Period brain doesn’t exist, says new study

A fifth of British women feel uncomfortable discussing their periods with their friends

The average man knows more about periods than we might think