- CJ Members
- EAC
- OC Teams
Girls ‘too poor’ to buy sanitary protection in the world’s 5th richest country
Background: The United Kingdom (UK) is world’s 5th richest country by GDP ($2.858 trillion), yet girls are missing school because they cannot afford sanitary protection, according to Freedom4Girls –a charity group that provides sanitary products to women in Kenya (and now doing the same in West Yorkshire).
It’s unclear how many girls were in this situation across the UK, a public health worker who assists Freedom4Girls told BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour.
She was contacted by a teacher at a south Leeds school, who became concerned about teenage girls’ attendance.
“It’s happening in other schools. Teachers have told me they are buying towels to have just in case.
“If you’ve got no food, you’ve got no money for sanitary protection. If you have a mum with two teenage girls, that’s a lot of money each month when you’re on zero-hours contracts, benefits or low income.
“I wasn’t shocked at all… We had an idea that there was something happening in schools. It’s linked to poverty – 25,000 visits to food banks just in Leeds last year.”
Related Links
- A third of UK lives on insufficient income: JRF
- UK Food Poverty Causing Massive Rise in Malnutrition Cases
- One More Million Brits Bite Poverty, as Govt Spends $12 Billion on Obsolete White Elephant (QE Aircraft Carrier)
- Young people in the UK “feel they have nothing to live for”
- US, UK Munitions ‘Cause Birth Defects’ in Iraq
[Prepared by an affiliated team of political scientists.]
- Report is available from FIRE-EARTH PULSARS.
Fire Earth 