A campaign to tackle period poverty has launched across Manchester on International Women’s Day (8 March).
The Package for Val initiative, has been rolled out in 18 community libraries to address the lack of access to menstrual products girls and women are facing in the city due to the cost of living crisis.
According to a representative survey of 1,000 young women and girls aged 14-21 by Plan International, 1 in 7 girls have struggled to afford period products. Even more shockingly, 1 in 10 girls cannot afford sanitary protection on a regular basis.
The Package For Val campaign was first trialled at Manchester Central Library and after helping countless women and girls who endure period poverty, it has now expanded to 18 other libraries across Manchester including Newton Heath, Gorton and Withington.
The campaign follows in suit of ajor supermarkets, chemists and other venues who have also made efforts to provide much-needed menstrual products and is funded on a pilot basis by Manchester City Council's Department of Public Health.
The package contains 2 sanitary towels in a discrete paper bag, supplied to anyone who asks at the library counter for a Package for Val. Posters are put in public loos to raise awareness of the scheme to anyone who needs it.
The Package for Val campaign launches on International Women’s Day (8 March).
Councillor Adele Douglas, Deputy Executive Member for Skills, Employment and Leisure, said: “Women and girls in our city are struggling to afford the basic need and dignity of accessing menstrual products. The Package for Val campaign in libraries means we can now help women and girls experience what is natural part of life without shame or embarrassment.
“Launching this on International Women’s Day gives us all a chance to not only remember the incredible strides of young women in Mancunian history, but also to begin breaking down stigma and creating open conversation about what period poverty really means for young women and girls.”