Nadya Okamoto, PERIOD
Throughout history, across the world, periods have been seen as something dirty and embarrassing. A lack of conversation and gendered education has left plenty of people with a limited understanding of the very thing that makes human life possible.
In 2014, when she was just 16 years old, Nadya Okamoto founded PERIOD.org a non profit with the goal of ending period poverty and stigma through service, education and advocacy.
PERIOD is now the largest youth run NGO in Women’s Health in the World. In 2020 alone PERIOD’s impact has spread far and wide. Since March, they have welcomed over 100 chapters and distributed over 2.1 million products! With over 1.1 million periods served and 850 registered chapters around the world.
Inspired by Gloria Steinem’s essay ‘If Men Could Menstruate’ and now a student at Harvard, Nadya recently published her debut book, Period Power: A Manifesto for the Menstrual Movement.
This isn’t a feminist issue its a human rights issue with massive global repercussions. We can all start making a difference today by talking openly about periods and the challenges facing people around the world and in our home towns today.
The number of people facing period poverty has risen sharply during lockdown. People unable to afford or access sanitary products have resorted to using items including newspaper, pillow cases, or tea towels. Freedom4Girls says it has seen a five-fold increase in the number of free sanitary products it supplies and Bloody Good Period’s Rachel Grocott spoke to Stylist about the growing concern saying:
“Access to period products, which was already an issue for many people, has been made worse by Covid-19 and lockdown, which has seen many community distribution points closed, as well as rising levels of financial hardship and poverty, forcing people to make impossible choices between food and other essentials. We’ve now distributed just under 33,000 packs of period products since the start of lockdown: that’s a 5.5 fold increase in the volume of supplies distributed in ‘normal’ times.”
We’re 💯inspired by Nadya’s movement to normalise the normal - menstrual hygiene is not a luxury it's a right. Feeling inspired too? Here’s a few ways you can help tackle period poverty in your community right now:
💰 Donate to shelters and food banks near you (in the UK you can go to The Trusell Trust website to find one near you)
🗣️ Talk with your school - if your local school has been providing products but students have been remote learning then ask them to donate products to people in need and make sure they are accessible to students.
💪 Support Emergency Grants for Period Supplies by adding your signature to campaigns like this: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/support-emergency-grants-for-period-supplies
❤️ Start talking! Let’s agree to stop whispering about our periods and start a real conversation that can end the stigma and shame surrounding menstruation.
Follow Nayda and PERIOD at the links below!
Nadya’s Instagram: instagram.com/nadyaokamoto
PERIOD’s Instagram: instagram.com/periodmovement