Hygiene Poverty - what it is and how you can help
At We are Girls in Sport, part of our mission is to help girls persevere with sport, exercise or their chosen physical activity through the teenage years. There is a high drop-off rate - 50% - for girls’ involvement in sport in their teens for a number of reasons - periods, changing body shapes, feeling body conscious, and lack of self-confidence - but another global barrier to sport for teenage girls is a lack of access to hygiene products.
National Hygiene Week
In the UK this week it’s National Hygiene Week 2021 which highlights how poverty not only means that people struggle to put food on the table but how they might not have the means to buy essential hygiene products for all the family. Imagine sharing a toothbrush with a sibling because you can’t afford one each.
The Hygiene Bank charity launched National Hygiene Week. Since establishing The Hygiene Bank, its founder, Lizzy Hall, has set up a network of ambassadors, drop-off points and relationships with key community institutions around the UK so that the public can donate hygiene essentials, safe in the knowledge that they will be distributed to those who need them most. The Hygiene Bank has also partnered with major retailer Boots the Chemist (who sell toiletries and self-care products as well as dispensing medicines, for non-UK readers) who have drop-off points in store and this week, if you buy certain branded products, they will donate one too.
It was listening to Lizzy on the podcast ‘The Confidence Rooms’ that literally made me stop, listen and think about how this could impact girls’ involvement in activity too. Think of these scenarios:
You can’t afford to buy deodorant so you don’t want to do anything to get sweatier.
Your family uses washing up liquid for all washing in the house – body and hair washing, clothes washing as well as pots and pans. You’ve worn your clothes for a few days and don’t want to go back to smelling of Fairy Liquid.
You’re running out of shampoo so you can only wash your hair every three or four days – doing sport is going to make your hair smell and need washing more.
Not being able to afford toiletries has a huge effect on self-confidence as well as being a barrier to sport and we haven’t even touched on period products yet.
Photo credit Rawpixel
Period Poverty
Period poverty is being unable to afford period sanitary wear. There are stories of girls unable to leave the house as they’re worried about their flow and some aren’t attending school when they have their period, let alone being active in sport or exercise.
Period Poverty has made the headlines in the UK recently thanks to Amika George MBE who has campaigned for free period products for those who need them most. Countries around the world have taken note but it was Scotland which was the first country to make period products free and available to ‘anyone who needs them’.
Photo credit Natracare via Unsplash
The Borgen Project reports:
In 2018, more than 20% of those polled in Scotland stated that they either had limited or no access to period products. Another 10% had to sacrifice food and other necessities to afford them. One in 10 experienced bacterial or fungal infections due to a lack of sanitary products. These rates have gone up to nearly one in four during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The new Period Products Bill in Scotland practically eliminates these problems. Accessibility to sanitary products must be made by the Scottish Government and organized countrywide. Public restrooms in educational institutions must contain a variety of period products without charge and it also allows oversight over local jurisdictions to ensure enforcement of the law.
Around the world
After listening to the podcast, I did some research of my own with friends of We are Girls in Sport around the world to understand if there were similar charities to The Hygiene Bank elsewhere. Sadly, there was none, and the research group was grateful to have had the topic raised – just like me, they hadn’t considered hygiene poverty before but felt equally shocked.
What you can do
If you feel moved to do something, here are some suggestions:
· Donate to The Hygiene Bank’s drop-off points around the country and in Boots stores.
· At your sports club, make sure that toiletries (deodorant, shower gel, shampoos etc) are available for free, and especially a variety of period products.
· If you’re donating to a food bank, you can add hygiene products – these are often over-looked. You could include laundry products, cleaning products as well as personal hygiene products.
Next time you’re shopping with your friends, consider buying a bottle of shampoo or some sanitary pads and donating it to a food bank or The Hygiene Bank. There’s more than likely a girl who wants to be just like you but she doesn’t want to leave the house due to hygiene poverty. Sometimes poverty isn’t blatant; it’s hidden.