PERIOD Poverty is now, shamefully, a well-known phrase, with research by Plan International UK showing one in 10 girls and women aged 14-21 years of age in Britain cannot afford sanitary products and more than one in 10 had to improvise sanitary wear due to affordability issues.

The fact is this: females are being plunged into period poverty through not being able to afford basic sanitary products which are taxed as a luxury item. It seems dignity has also become a luxury item.

Luxury: “a state of great comfort or elegance, especially when involving great expense”; “a pleasure obtained only rarely”; “an inessential, desirable item which is expensive or difficult to obtain”

This is the Oxford English Dictionary’s definition of “luxury.” Perhaps, unsurprisingly, none of the above readily spring to mind when my period arrives every month or when I am purchasing tampons.

Now I know many adverts for sanitary products would have you believe the onset of your period leads to joyous leaps in the air or rollerblading in white trousers but really “a state of great comfort or elegance”?

Any girl or women who has menstruated will vouch that towels and tampons are a necessity, not a luxury or optional extra. Yet, in Britain tampons and sanitary products are regarded as luxury items and are, as such, subject to a 5 per cent VAT rate.

The money accrued from the VAT is now being invested in supporting women’s organisations such as rape crisis services and organisations supporting victims and survivors of male violence.

The government made a cynical, tactical decision here — by putting the money towards women’s issues, it makes it harder to campaign to scrap the VAT totally. Also, and more importantly, rather than being a boost for women, it actually means women are paying for the likes of rape crisis services with their own period blood.

Free Period North East is a campaign group aiming to put an end to period poverty across Tees Valley. It is calling for the introduction of free sanitary products in all secondary schools and colleges along with the introduction of an S Card for women who cannot afford to buy sanitary products. It would work along the lines of the C Card scheme for contraceptives. Providing free contraception is of course necessary. But let’s face it — sex is not an inevitability but your period is.

To date, all five local authorities in Tees Valley (Stockton, Middlesbrough, Redcar & Cleveland, Darlington and Hartlepool) have supported the campaign after Labour councillors took a motion to their full council meetings. Regionally, public health services and unions are also on board and pilot areas will be set up across the boroughs.

Period poverty is an issue which crosses a number of policy areas — children and young people, education, adult care and public health. Working together can bring about an end to what should not be a problem in 2018.

Austerity has hit women the hardest. Women are more likely to be employed in the public sector, which is being decimated at an unprecedented rate. Welfare payments account for a larger proportion of their income than men and this government has introduced the two child limit and indefensible rape clause for tax credits. This is one financial burden which can be removed.

Foodbank use continues on its depressing upward trajectory. Trussell Trust figured show between April 1 2017 and March 31 2018, they provided 64,209 three-day emergency parcels in north-east England. Sanitary products are now a staple item in some of these parcels — it goes without saying, if you cannot afford food, you certainly cannot afford tampons. And this is before universal credit is even rolled out in areas such as Stockton, Middlesbrough and Redcar & Cleveland.

Pilot schemes are already running in parts of Middlesbrough and Stockton using donations of tampons and towels. In community centres in the more deprived wards, a basket of products is stocked in the women’s toilets. One centre manager recounted a woman had hugged her to say thank you as she had been desperate for sanitary protection and this provision had made all the difference to her.

Without fail, every time we talk about giving away free products, we are faced with a barrage of sneering comments, mainly from men, telling women to get themselves down to a discount high street store where packets of towels are on the shelves for as little as 89p. First, these products are often not fit for purpose and necessitate “doubling up” to avoid leaking. Second, if they are so cheap to buy, why are they simultaneously too expensive to give away free of charge?

There are political reasons causing period poverty and as ever, it is women bearing the brunt. Women’s bodies should not be means tested or females financially penalised for their bodies. Period.

Follow Free Period North East on Twitter @FreePeriodNE and Emma Chesworth @EmmaChesworth1