“Women have periods. That’s just biology. Yet, in Ghana, many can’t go to school because they can’t afford sanitary pads. This is an outrage.” Izzy Tolputt, 17, Wiltshire
For the past 2 weeks I have been doing work experience with Action Through Enterprise, an amazing charity working in a very remote part of Ghana, focusing on how periods compare between the UK and Upper West Ghana. I already knew that many girls in the UK can’t always afford sanitary items – but when I heard just how bad period poverty is in the villages where ATE works, I decided something must be done. And I hope you will help me do it!
“A pack of pads changes a girl’s life.”
The reason I care about periods, specifically period poverty, is because there is so much controversy surrounding something biological, every woman will have a period, yet supplies for periods are too expensive for many women. I decided to do some research, speaking to my UK friends and some of the female ATE staff in Ghana who helped me do a questionnaire with some school girls there. What struck me was how much we have in common – but also, how much harder things are there. ATE currently provides sanitary pads to schoolgirls, each girl spoken to said this has gotten them back into school when they are on their period as using a pad allows them to have control over their period as a sanitary pad soaks up the blood and prevents discomfort.
‘‘If I cannot use a sanitary pad, I will use a rag and stay home’’
Here are two case studies, Olivia* from the UK and Haniah* from Lawra, both have answered the same set of questions to highlight the period inequality. Their names have been changed to protect their stories.
Olivia, from the UK
- Age: 17
- Age period started: 12
- Live with: Both parents and sister
- Parents jobs: Dad is a postman and Mum is a nanny
- Favourite subject at school: English
- Year at school: Year 13
- What an average day on her period looks like: quite painful with cramps, there is ‘a lot of blood’ which makes day to day activities and sports difficult. At school she uses the school toilets to change her pad and knows where to get more if she runs out at school
- If she runs out of pads: she can easily get more, she ‘writes it on her shopping list for her mum to get’ and if she really needs to she will use toilet roll
- Sharing pads with the women in her family: not really, unless her mum or sister really need one
- Managing pain: taking ibuprofen and using a hot water bottle
Haniah, from Lawra, Ghana
- Age: 17
- Age started period: 14
- Lives with: her parents and uncle
- Parent’s jobs: father and uncle are farmers and mother is a seamstress
- Favourite subject at school: social studies
- Year at school: Form 2
- Knowledge around periods: ‘when she sees blood she knows that is her period’
- What an average day on her period looks like: bathes and changes rags and pads, ‘usually takes a pad/rag to school and uses when the other one is soaked, then she puts the old pad down the toilet or a rag into a plastic bag to wash when she is home’
- If she runs out of pads: she uses rags
- Sharing pads with other women in her family: with her mum
- Managing pain: sleeps or lies down
- Does she need support from ATE? ATE’s support enables her to go to school
There is a big gap of access to pads between the UK and Ghana. When I spoke to my friends, I asked how they deal with their period when they run out of pads, a few said she will ask one of her friends to see if she have a pad or they might use tissue, with others saying she just go to the shops to get more, which allows them to go back to class with new pads in their bag.
An average pack of sanitary pads has 12 pads inside, the girls spoken to in Ghana said they usually share a pack of pads between all the women in her household, meaning the pack does not last a whole cycle because the pads are shared between multiple women. When they run out of pads, these girls use rags, the rags are used until soaked through with blood and then washed and used again, sometimes being used whilst damp. By using the rags, the girls are at higher risk of infection and the rags are more uncomfortable because rags commonly cause skin irritation as it rubs against the girls legs when they walk.
Sanitary pads are hard to get in Upper West Ghana due to the price. When surveyed by the BBC, it was found that Ghana had the most expensive period products out of all African countries. A packet of pads is 29 cedis, the minimum wage is 18.15 cedis per day, meaning 22% of a monthly salary is spent on periods. 29 cedis is equal to £1.45.
I believe that all girls should be able to bleed with dignity. Just getting one girl a pack of pads, she can be in the classroom for the week she is on her period, rather than just on the easier days. A donation as small as £1.45 can get a girl pads for a month, £20 can get a girl 13 packs of sanitary pads, keeping her in school for a year.
To donate, go to https://bit.ly/IzzyATE – thank you!
By Izzy Tolputt