Period Poverty: The Silent Crisis Affecting Millions

blog

Dec 8

Written By Comma

What is Period Poverty?

An estimated 1.9 billion people menstruate each month, and globally, more than 500 million experience period poverty. Despite the fact that menstruation remains a routine biological reality for half the world’s population, the ability to manage it safely and with dignity proves far from universal. For millions, menstruation exists as a source of distress due to inaccessible care and lack of resources. Furthermore, insufficient education and sociocultural shame drive stigmatization against periods and people who menstruate, transforming this biological process into a taboo topic that routinely goes unaddressed in conversations concerning gender inequity.

Period poverty refers to the inability to access menstrual products, education, and sanitation due to financial, cultural, or systemic barriers. While often categorized as an issue relegated solely to low-income countries, this proves to be a misconception: it affects communities across all corners of the globe, including here at home in the United States.

Here’s how widespread the issue is:

1 in 4 U.S. women struggles to afford period products.
1 in 4 U.S. students has missed school because they did not have the supplies they needed; 39% say they can’t perform their best academically without reliable access.
More than half of students report that period products are not reliably available in school bathrooms, even when schools claim otherwise.

Period poverty underscores the ways in which gender inequity acts as a detriment to public health—not only threatening the pockets and dignity of those who menstruate, but threatening their very health and wellbeing as well.

What Period Poverty Looks Like

For those who do not experience and have never experienced menstruation, lack of access to pads and tampons may seem to be a fairly trivial absence. However, period poverty influences daily life in ways that often remain invisible to those who have never struggled to afford or access menstrual care. For many, period poverty does not solely make menstrual care inaccessible; it makes the entire world inaccessible—preventing individuals who menstruate from participating in the public arena. Experiencing period poverty often means constantly navigating between discomfort, shame, and impossible choices.

It often looks like:

Having to choose between groceries, transportation, or period products because the budget cannot cover all three.
Using products far longer than recommended or resorting to unsafe substitutes—such as toilet paper, socks, rags, or improvised materials—because nothing else is available.
Missing school, work, or community activities out of fear of bleeding through clothing or lacking a safe, private place to manage one’s period.
Carrying the emotional burden of stigma, embarrassment, and isolation, reinforced by a culture that still treats menstruation as something to conceal rather than understand.

These conditions pose real health risks: increased likelihood of infection, unmanaged pain, and delayed access to reproductive or preventative care. The psychological harm, however, proves just as profound. When menstruation is treated as a private inconvenience rather than a public-health priority, those who menstruate are left to manage its costs alone.

Why Does Period Poverty Exist?

Period poverty is not an accident—it is the expected outcome of intersecting structural, cultural, and economic inequities. Menstrual health remains chronically underfunded and stigmatized, leaving millions without the tools required to manage a basic bodily function.

Several forces contribute to this inequity:

High Cost of Menstrual Products

Menstrual products are expensive and, for households already navigating financial strain, these costs add up quickly. When budgets are tight, essential care is often the first sacrifice.

Gender-Based Tax Policies (The “Pink Tax”)

Historically, menstrual products have been classified as “non-essential,” exposing them to sales taxes that do not apply to other health and hygiene necessities. This misclassification reflects the longstanding devaluation of women’s and menstruators’ healthcare needs and exacerbates financial barriers for those already struggling.

Insufficient Sanitation and Infrastructure

Managing menstruation safely requires clean bathrooms, running water, privacy, and reliable disposal options—resources not guaranteed in schools, shelters, workplaces, or carceral facilities. The absence of adequate infrastructure reframes this biological process into a recurring crisis.

Sociocultural Stigma and Shame

Deep-rooted stigma around menstruation perpetuates silence. Shame keeps individuals from asking for help, and silence allows institutions and policymakers to overlook menstrual health as a legitimate and urgent concern.

Period poverty persists because menstrual health continues to be systematically overlooked—treated as an optional add-on rather than an essential component of public health and gender equity.

Who Is Most Affected?

While anyone who menstruates can experience period poverty, the burden falls heaviest on communities already marginalized by economic, racial, and gender inequities.

Those disproportionately affected include:

Low-income individuals and families, for whom menstrual supplies are a recurring financial strain.
Students, particularly in under-resourced schools with inadequate bathroom access or inconsistent product availability.
People experiencing homelessness, who often lack private spaces, sanitation, and reliable supplies.
Incarcerated individuals, who may receive limited or low-quality products and have little autonomy over their own bodies.
Trans and nonbinary menstruators, who face additional stigma, safety concerns, and barriers to accessing gender-appropriate care.
Communities of color, who experience compounded socioeconomic and healthcare inequities that make access even more difficult.

Period poverty magnifies existing disparities, reinforcing cycles of disadvantage and limiting educational, economic, and health outcomes.

Period Poverty Is a Health Issue

Menstrual health is health—yet it is routinely excluded from broader public-health conversations. The inability to access menstrual products or safe sanitation is not a minor inconvenience; it is a barrier to full participation in daily life and a threat to physical and mental wellbeing.

Period poverty contributes to:

heightened risk of infection and other preventable health complications
chronic stress, anxiety, and reduced self-esteem
interruptions to education and work, with long-term economic consequences
delayed or reduced engagement with preventative and reproductive healthcare

When menstrual care is inaccessible, health suffers—plain and simple. Addressing period poverty is not just about distributing products, it is about recognizing menstrual equity as a fundamental component of public health, bodily autonomy, and human dignity.

How You Can Make a Difference

Ending period poverty takes collective action—from small everyday choices to systemic advocacy. Whether you have the ability to give time, money, or simply your voice, every effort helps move us closer to menstrual equity.

Donate to Trusted Organizations:
1. PERIOD: The largest U.S. nonprofit dedicated to ending period poverty and stigma, with a nationwide network of menstrual product distribution partners.
2. Days for Girls: Works globally to improve access to menstrual care and education, particularly in underserved communities.
3. The Pad Project: Focuses on providing menstrual hygiene solutions and education to girls worldwide, helping keep students in school.
Host a Period Product Drive! You can bring your community together by organizing a drive at your workplace, school, gym, or community center to collect menstrual products. Partnering with local shelters, schools, or grassroots organizations will help make sure donations go directly into the hands of people who need them most. It’s a simple way to have an immediate, meaningful impact.
Break the Stigma: Talk openly about periods. Share education, stories, and resources. Normalize menstruation as the health issue that it is—not something hidden or shameful. Awareness builds pressure for change.

Menstrual Care is a Human Right

Whether it’s donating to a nonprofit, volunteering locally, advocating online, or simply starting conversations, every action helps. Period poverty thrives in silence—and fades when communities stand together.

At Comma, we believe menstrual care is a human right, not a privilege. Together, we can create a world where no one has to choose between dignity and survival—because menstruators deserve better, period.