Some girls are forced to miss school due to being unable to afford menstrual protection

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Free sanitary products are to be handed out to tens of thousands of schoolgirls in Wales in a bid to tackle “period poverty”.

As many as 141,000 girls attending both primary and secondary schools in the country will benefit from the free menstrual products as part of the £2.3m scheme, the Welsh government has announced.

The move is part of efforts to combat period poverty, with campaigners highlighting how schoolgirls are forced to miss days at school because they cannot afford products. Two in five girls have had to rely on using toilet roll to manage their period, one charity’s survey revealed last year. Some were even forced to use socks or newspaper.

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It follows the Scottish government’s funding of free sanitary items in schools, colleges and universities last year. Meanwhile, chancellor Philip Hammond pledged to fund free menstrual products in English schools from September.

Announcing the “period dignity grant for schools” scheme, the Welsh first minister, Mark Drakeford, said: “We are committed to supporting period dignity and maintaining our investment in schools to help bring period poverty to an end.

“In March, we declared free sanitary products would be available to all women in Wales’s hospitals – it is only just that the same happens across our schools.

“It is essential [that] ample sanitary products, as well as good facilities, are available to all female learners so they can manage their periods with confidence and remove what is an unnecessary barrier to their education.”

The funds will be made available via local authorities, with schools being urged to support “reusable, environmentally sustainable products”.

The Welsh education minister, Kirsty Williams, added: “It’s unthinkable that young women could be forced to miss days of their education simply because they can’t access or afford period products.

“We’re committed to tackling this inequality in Wales and this funding will help make period products available to learners in all schools, free of charge and in the most dignified way possible.”

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Some 42% of 14- to 21-year-olds said that they had been forced to use makeshift sanitary wear, according to a survey by children’s charity Plan International UK in 2018. Of the 1,004 girls surveyed, 7% said they had used socks, other fabric, newspaper or paper as replacements.

In March, NHS England announced that women and girls in hospital will receive free sanitary products on request from this summer.