Period poverty is a social issue in Aotearoa/New Zealand – and a group of Westlake students decided to do something about it.
In the Youth19 survey, nearly 4000 students who were menstruating were asked about their experiences of period poverty. “Around 12 per cent of Year 9-13 students who were having periods reported having difficulty accessing menstrual items due to cost, ” said Dr Cathy Stephenson. Moreover, it is also an issue that affects women as well. Dr Stephenson calculated that an approximate lifetime cost of sanitary products for one person is $15,000.
Year 13 students completing their 3.4 Personal Involvement in a Social Action internal assessment for Senior Social Studies decided to look at this issue and set up a collective drive for sanitary products. Robyn from Women’s Refugee was thrilled to visit the school last week to collect these donations.
Pictured above are Frances Glover, Robyn from Women’s Refugee, Charlotte Lewis and Phoenix Ataria – all Year 13 Social Studies students.