Just over a year ago, more than 2,000 people braved the December chill and stood together outside Downing Street to collectively shout for an end to period poverty in the UK. We dressed in red and waved huge banners with period slogans, calling time on the government’s reluctance to act.

A few months later, an announcement came from Westminster that £1.5m of the tampon tax fund would be given to charities to address period poverty. We celebrated a small victory – evidence that activism can yield tangible results. But a year on from the protest, we are yet to see any meaningful policy change.

Women-only charities lose out in funding from tampon tax Read more

I started #FreePeriods in April 2017 after learning that children in the UK were missing school because they were unable to afford menstrual products. As a schoolgirl myself, I was horrified that a natural, biological function was denying girls their right to an equal education and compromising their academic attainment. It was the government’s silence on the issue that propelled me to start the campaign for free menstrual products for children from low-income households.

Today, #FreePeriods, in partnership with the Red Box Project and with the support of the Pink Protest, launches a new legal campaign to make sure no child misses school because they can’t afford pads or tampons. We have started a CrowdJustice drive to raise money, so we can push for all schools and colleges in England to be given funds to provide free menstrual products for all students who need them.

Scotland has done just this. In August 2018, the Scottish government made history by being the first in the world to pledge to provide free menstrual products in every school, college and university. They will be available in all toilets, like soap and toilet paper, so all students will have access to period supplies, regardless of financial means or any other barriers to accessing products at home that they may experience. Free menstrual products are also available in Scotland for people from low-income households.

Why can’t England follow suit? Recent statistics on period poverty in the UK make for depressing reading: 15% of girls have struggled to afford menstrual products, with 12% admitting to improvising due to affordability issues. It’s unsurprising that lack of access to period products can have a far-reaching effect on young women’s lives, with those suffering from period poverty being least likely to complete their GCSEs or sit their A-levels. A OnePoll.com survey found that 44% of women who had experienced period poverty struggled to find employment, a figure 20% higher than for those had not been through similar struggles.

Play Video 1:08 'We need free period products in schools – it's a human right' – video

It’s clear that we need to see real change soon. Last year was named the “Year of the Woman”: we celebrated the 100th anniversary of some women getting the right to vote in the UK and the reformation of abortion laws in Ireland, and we saw the extraordinary force of women protesting against sexism and advocating for women’s rights across the world in a wave of women’s marches. Emma Gonzalez, Nadia Murad, Christine Blasey Ford … 2018 was the year we saw more and more women stand as disruptors of the status quo. They demanded change and galvanised millions of others in their calls for action. Feminism is reaching a level of cultural significance it hasn’t enjoyed in years, and women’s issues are starting to seek the spotlight more than ever before.

We need to make 2019 bigger and bolder. We need to take the issues we care about and shape them the way we want them to look. I am starting with an attempt to make sure that every child in the UK has the right to participate in their education, unencumbered by their biology. Because no one should have to miss school because they have their period.

• Amika George is the founder of #FreePeriods