End Period Poverty and Give Girls, Women Hope

While the school year looks undoubtedly different in every classroom - and living room - around the country, it's important to consider the impact this is having on women and girls.

Women are reportedly experiencing more economic difficulty during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“For the last 22 years, extreme poverty globally had been declining. Then came COVID-19, and with it, massive job losses, shrinking of economies and loss of livelihoods, particularly for women," says Ginette Azcona, lead author of UN Women’s latest report From Insights to Action and UN Women’s Senior Research and Data Specialist in this UN Women article. "Weakened social protection systems have left many of the poorest in society unprotected, with no safeguards to weather the storm."

There are a number of factors, according to the article, that make the pandemic much more drastic for women and girls:

• Women tend to earn less.
• Women have fewer savings.
• Women are disproportionately more in the informal economy.
• Women have less access to social protections.
• Women are more likely to be burdened with unpaid care and domestic work, and therefore have to drop out of the labour force
• Women make up the majority of single-parent households.

This means moms and girls are in need this school year. This year, through the end of October, we've distributed 477,916 period products to 13.109 girls and women in need. This essential support means moms are more able to help their kids with virtual school - if that's how their district is operating - and girls are able to focus without worrying about their menstrual cycles.

Thanks to our supporters for continuing to make this happen.