THE FACTS. PERIOD.

UNITED STATES:

While you can buy, using SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits, food items including bread, fruits, vegetables, meats, fish, poultry, and dairy products… you can not buy toilet paper, diapers, tooth paste, shampoo, deodorant or feminine hygiene products.

Approximately 70% of women of menstruating age in the United States use tampons. A woman may use more than 16,000 tampons in her life.

Most states carry a sales tax on feminine hygiene products. (35 as of 3/19)

Some women have reported giving up their food stamps for money to buy tampons.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan sued a county on behalf of female jail inmates who say they were subject to "inhumane" treatment, including a lack of feminine hygiene products.

WORLDWIDE:

Supporters in Britain and many other countries have been lobbying for an end to the "luxury" tax on feminine hygiene products. (Yes, it's considered a non-essential, luxury item! Oh, men's razors are not taxed. Go figure!)

As of July 1, 2015, feminine hygiene products, including tampons, pads, and menstrual cups, are no longer subject to Canada’s five percent “Goods and Services” tax.

Findings from a report highlighting Bangladesh, where 80% of factory workers are women, show that 60% of them were using rags from the factory floor for menstrual cloths.

Girls in rural Uganda miss up to eight days of study each school term because they have their periods.

Approximately one in four people on earth is a woman of childbearing age. (2002)

STILL INTERESTED IN LEARNING MORE? HERE ARE SOME COOL PLACES TO START:

Cosmopolitan, How These 3 Women Are Working to Make "Menstrual Equity" a Reality

The Guardian, We Need to Talk About Periods: Why is Menstruation Still Holding Girls Back?

New York Magazine, Menstruation Can Become Humiliation in Prisons

New York Times, Helping Women and Girls. Period.

Huffington Post, 'Flo' Is New Period Solution For Girls Who Can't Afford Pads, Face Stigma

Change.org Writer and advocate Jennifer Weiss-Wolf has joined forces with Cosmopolitan to spread awareness and acceptance of women’s periods and galvanize a No Tax On Tampons campaign in the U.S. Go to the web site below to learn all about #TamponsForAll, and how you can get involved.