Girl Scout Orrin Jones is working towards her Gold Award. For her project, she decided to focus it around making feminine hygiene products more available. Coming out of COVID was already a challenge for numerous people, especially for women.
One of my greatest friends missed school for a few days; this was not usual for her, so I asked her if she was sick. She replied promptly and stated that she wasn’t sick, she only had her period. This confused me because I assumed that our school had recourses for menstruators. When I spoke to one of my school nurses, she told me that the sanitary napkins were bough quarterly and they ran out of materials to distribute. I further asked her if the district has a budget or lends the school money for these products, and she stated that the district does not do either of those things, and she has to use her salary for such products. This incident sparked my interest in this issue, which I came to find out was more common globally. 1 in 7 women cannot afford sanitary products, and 1 in 3 miss school, work, or other important events to stay home and tend to their cycles. On top of that, there is a Pink Tax that makes female items more expensive than male products.
All of prompted me to take action and try to spread awareness. I decided to create a nonprofit and website (both still in the process) called Prevent Period Poverty, and I have partnered with global nonprofit I Support the Girls to expand my business not only nationally, but in countries such as Pakistan, Germany, and Japan. My nonprofit collects donated sanitary products, creates reusable sanitary napkins, and pamphlets, and sends each item to numerous organizations that will distribute these items to women who need it, schools, and other institutions. I will be working on placing a category on my website where females can order their menstrual products for free and have them delivered to their location.
I am also spreading awareness on my website on the Pink Tax issue, how it is unconstitutional, and ways that each person can help fight against this injustice issue. Though I have just begun my journey, I am excited to see how far my organization can go to make this issue decrease and educate people on how to help and support menstruators.
