I’m getting Oxford to tackle period poverty – why can’t other cities do the same?

In the ashes of the financial crash, the UK has faced the longest squeeze on living standards since the Napoleonic wars. Every extra expense really does hit people hard, and one of those we really should be talking about more is the cost of having a period.

£4,800. That’s how much the average person who menstruates has to spend on period products in their lifetime. That’s £4,800 just to manage a basic biological process. And it’s £4,800 that many people just cannot afford.

All of this is why on 18 July, I and other Green Party city councillors proposed a motion to Oxford City Council to provide free period products in public toilets, the Town Hall and community centres. It was passed unanimously, meaning that, in the coming weeks and months, the council will begin working with period poverty charities and organisations in our city to roll out this universal provision.

This will build on the brilliant work already being done by groups like the Young Women’s Music Project – an incredible volunteer-powered organisation that runs a scheme which delivers  period products across Oxford on a monthly basis.

Period poverty is real. 36 per cent of girls aged 14-21 in the UK struggled to afford or access period products during the Covid pandemic. In Oxford – the city I represent as a local councillor – the figures are even more stark. Four in every ten women and girls in Oxford struggle to afford period products. Our city is second among the top ten cities where women and girls struggle to pay for what are absolute essentials.

This all has major impacts. People experiencing period poverty can end up using period products longer than they should be used for, risking infections and toxic shock syndrome which can be fatal. They can be forced to use rags, tissues, even sometimes newspaper instead.

Others are unable to leave the house, even to go to school, because you don’t have anything to soak up the blood. Our motion will be a small step towards tackling period poverty in Oxford, and liberating women, girls and others who menstruate from this societal failing.

I’m proud of what we’re delivering in Oxford. But – after over a decade of austerity – it really shouldn’t be incumbent on cash-strapped local councils to lead the way. We need leadership from Westminster too. Because if we’re serious about tackling inequality, and if we’re serious about dismantling gender based discrimination, then we need to get serious about tackling period poverty across the whole country.

There have already been small moves in the right direction. The period products scheme for schools had the right intentions, but doesn’t go anywhere near far enough – not least because around half of eligible schools didn’t opt into the scheme.

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In 2021, Surrey County Council became the first local authority to launch a project of free period product provision. The Scottish government has set up a Scotland-wide scheme to allow anyone who needs period products to get them free of charge, and is moving towards making public bodies including schools, colleges and universities provide period products for free. The Welsh government has provided funding to local authorities and further education institutions to ensure that period products can be accessed free of charge.

All of this shows what can be done – if the political will is there, and if political decision making isn’t primarily centred around the needs and interests of wealthy cisgender men.

In Oxford, it took pioneering volunteer-led civil society projects filling the gaps left by the state’s failure, and young women getting elected with the passion to drive change inside the political institutions. There’s a thought…