phs is continuing our work with organisations who share our commitment to period equality with the launch of an exciting partnership with Freedom4Girls – a charity whose mission is to support those who menstruate by tackling the issues associated with period poverty – and our customers are getting involved.
Through our face-to-face exhibitions, we’re donating a pack of re-useable, environmentally friendly period products to Freedom4Girls with every coffee cup used and recycled by our visitors. Our Coffee for a cause stand not only gives people the chance to come along and find out more about our commitment to period equality, but to show their support for an important cause and help our donation campaign.
Our first year featuring the Coffee for a cause stand has resulted in 3940 packs of safe, environmentally friendly period products being donated to Freedom4Girls.
These will be distributed in regions across the UK, Kenya and Uganda to people who are most marginalised and in need of support. Each pack can last up to three years, making it an environmentally friendly and sustainable way for people to manage their menstrual health.
About Freedom4girls
Alongside its provision of period products, Freedom4Girls carries out a wide range of activities in the fight to end worldwide period inequality. The charity is a passionate educator on the importance of normalising conversations about menstruation, from challenging stigmas and myths associated with periods, to providing education sessions that empower young people and offer a safe space for healthy conversations about periods. Freedom4Girls also places a focus on the importance of education on the range of different menstrual products that exist as well as promoting the use of re-usable, environmentally friendly products.
Founded in 2016 in Leeds, Yorkshire by Tina Leslie, following her experiences of working on a project to produce re-useable sanitary pads for a charity in Kenya, Freedom4Girls has become an active campaigner for a world that is period positive and that provides access to period products for everyone who needs them, so that no one should suffer from period poverty or stigma associated with their periods.
Welcoming phs’s support, Tina Leslie said:
“Freedom4Girls is so grateful to phs for its period product donations. It will help us continue to provide much needed and ever-increasing provision for those in need.”
As well as providing to the UK, Freedom4Girls also runs projects in East Africa, where for women and girls, particularly those in rural areas, it can be difficult or even impossible to obtain products, and those that are available to buy are very expensive comparable to the cost of living.
According to data analysed by the charity, a lack of suitable menstrual protection can have devastating repercussions for girls in East Africa, with many missing or even dropping out of school altogether, leading to a lack of socio-economic opportunities and poor outcomes as a result.
The work that Freedom4Girls carries out through its projects in Kenya and Uganda, both to provide reusable period packs and its education programme, as well as its activities in the UK, are playing an important part in the fight to end period poverty.
Our ongoing mission to tackle period poverty
Our proud support for Freedom4Girls, through our face-to-face Coffee for a cause campaign, is one of a number of ways that phs is working to bring about period equality for all.
We know that despite period products being a basic necessity for many of us, a significant proportion of people in the UK and worldwide are either not able to afford or cannot access period products. This period inequality, sometimes called ‘period poverty’, can have significant detrimental effects on women, girls and people who menstruate.
Awareness of this issue has been growing and there are regional, national and global movements to help create period equality; increasing access to period products to ensure nobody is held back because of their period.
As a national provider for period products to education, we understand the vital role that education settings have in tackling period inequality. Research commissioned by phs and reported in our white paper Lifting the lid on period poverty demonstrates that more than a third of teenage girls have missed school due to their period, averaging more than three days a term, and that schools and colleges are key to helping young people affected by period inequality.
As well as offering a wide choice of eco-friendly and disposable products to educational settings across the UK, we have produced guidance on how schools and colleges can utilise different strategies and funding mechanisms to provide free period products to students in the UK.
Join our Coffee for a cause
As we continue to develop our partnerships with organisations fighting to bring an end to period inequality worldwide, look out for more opportunities to join our Coffee for a cause and help us and our partners, Freedom4Girls to donate more free period products to those that need them most in our communities
