Teen girls are missing school because they don't have access to feminine hygiene products

Amelia Ferrell Knisely | The Tennessean

Show Caption Hide Caption Dr. Lakisha Simmons talks about the Period Project and its impact Local schools don't provide these products, so many girls are forced out of the classroom during their periods.

Young women in Middle Tennessee are missing school as often as monthly for a simple reason – they can't afford feminine hygiene products when they’re on their periods.

Charity Brock, a volunteer at the East Nashville YMCA's Community Action Program, said she noticed a pattern among the girls she hung out with in the after-school program.

Once a month, she said, she saw vibrant young women become withdrawn and reclusive.

She thought the problem was "solely relegated to third-world countries," Brock said. "These girls don’t have an ongoing access to feminine hygiene supplies and because of this need, they don't go to school."

The lack of access to feminine hygiene products is a widespread global issue; startling statistics from United Nations have shown 1 in 10 girls in Sub-Saharan Africa miss school during their menstrual cycle due to lack of sanitary products.

In the United Kingdom, seven percent of girls from low-income families reported missing school for the same reason in a survey by OnePoll.

In the U.S., the issue – referred to as period poverty – keeps 1 out of 5 girls out of school during their monthly cycle. This is according to data, the first of its kind, released in August by Always, a popular brand of feminine hygiene products.

Brock said that girls missing school on a monthly basis puts them on a path toward truancy and delayed graduation.

Nurses in Metro Nashville Schools and Franklin Special School District regularly receive requests for feminine hygiene products.

Community Achieves, a program in MNPS schools, helps provide the products to girls in nearly 20 district schools.

"My middle school partners said they get requests daily for feminine hygiene products," said Alison McArthur, Community Achieves coordinator. Many of the schools the program serves include low-income students.

Metro Nashville Schools don't keep feminine hygiene products on hand; school nurses in Williamson County have a limited amount determined by the school's budget.

Schools in both counties rely on outside partners and nonprofits to help provide the products to teenage girls who need them.

"Having the products on hand allows schools to keep the students at school to learn instead of sending them home," Dr. Nicole Boyle, MNPS director of student health services, said.

Paying for the products

For low-income families, purchasing feminine products falls between medical expenses and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for Women, Infants and Children's benefits.

Families who qualify for federal assistance programs like SNAP or WIC can't use those benefits to purchase feminine hygiene products; the programs forbid using an EBT card to purchase pads or tampons alongside "luxury items" like alcohol and cigarettes.

Research from Feeding America, a nationwide network of food banks, shows low-income families were more commonly unable to purchase feminine hygiene products than others with higher incomes, and some respondents reported skipping or delaying rent payments to buy “basic essentials” like tampons and pads.

Feminine care products are also excluded from tax-exempt categories in 37 states, including Tennessee.

And, despite feminine care products being classified by the Food and Drug Administration as "medical devices," the IRS has not yet acknowledged the same classification; this prevents women from using pre-tax dollars in health savings accounts or flexible spending accounts to purchase the products.

Jennifer Weiss-Wolf is an attorney and policy advocate with The Brennan Center and one of the nation's leading advocates for menstrual equity; her book, "Periods Gone Public," explores how periods have become a political cause.

"There's a lack of acknowledgement that half of the people who live in this country, half of the electorate, has a body that does this, but it has no presence in any of our law making," she said. "By bringing it into the light of day via policy reform, we have the opportunity to chip away at stigma and create a society where it's more normal to address menstruation."

Weiss-Wolf has been working with legislatures across the country to address the issue of period poverty. Since 2015, 24 states, including Tennessee, have introduced bills to eliminate the sales tax on menstrual products.

Connecticut, Florida, Illinois and New York have eliminated the sales tax on feminine care products, commonly referred to as the "tampon tax." These bills have had bi-partisan support, according to Weiss-Wolf.

"Eliminating the 'tampon tax' makes menstrual products more affordable and qualifies menstrual products as necessities," she said.

A handful of states have also passed laws to provide free tampons and other period products in public school bathrooms.

"It's a social responsibility to advocate to meet the needs of the most vulnerable women in society, like girls who can’t go to school regularly on their periods," Annie Lascoe said. She's the co-founder of Conscious Period, an California-based organic tampon company that advocates for increased public access to feminine hygiene products.

"Whether you’re a woman who has been living on the streets, or a mom of three who can't make ends meet or Beyoncé, we’ve all been without a tampon or pad when we needed it. It's compelling because we can all relate to it."

Giving girls access to period care

Brock saw first-hand that a lack of feminine hygiene products was keeping girls out of the classroom, so she launched a nonprofit, On The Dot, with her friend to collect supplies.

The organization stuffs the lockers at the Y-CAP with tampons and pads, as well as provides "weekender" brown bags with products for the girls to take home to share with family and friends.

Dr. Lakisha Simmons, an associate professor at Belmont University, also felt compelled to provide the products in Nashville schools after reading a magazine article on national period poverty.

After reaching out to friends who are MNPS teachers, she learned the need was urgent.

In March, on International Women's Day, Simmons hosted a goal-setting workshop for girls at Maplewood High School and handed out 204 bags stuffed with tampons and pads she had collected through donations.

"After the event, the teacher who invited us asked for more bags, and many of the girls asked if they could take a bag home to their sister," she said.

She started the Period Project and is currently collecting donations in hopes of handing out products this year throughout MNPS.

Weiss-Wolf said groups like On The Dot and the Period Project are necessary until policy changes make these products freely available to all girls, keeping them in the classroom every day of the month.

"The kinds of laws being passed around the country have a home in Tennessee, too," she said. "Go to your school boards and town council and ask that schools include these products."

How to help

Donate pads and tampons to On The Dot through www.onthedot615.com to arrange a donation pick-up.

Dr. Lakisha Simmons, who leads the Period Project, can be reached at drkisha@lakishasimmons.com to make a donation.

Always has partnered with Feeding America to launch the # EndPeriodPoverty campaign. Purchase Always pads before Sept. 9 and trigger a donation of product to US school girls in need.

Reach Amelia Ferrell Knisely at aferrell@tennessean.com, 615-210-8286 or follow @ameliaknisely on Twitter.