WOMEN across Britain are living in food and period poverty as a result of “shameful” government policies, trade unionists heard on the eve of International Women’s Day.

Many women and girls have had to sacrifice sanitary towels and tampons in order to provide food for families already under intense pressure due to welfare reforms and a lack of childcare support for women workers, unions at TUC women’s conference warned.

Women are more likely than men to live in poverty and to be working in low-income part-time work.