Call to end period poverty at protest
DEMAND: Groups want menstrual rights to be law
Cape Town-based FemConnect and Gauteng-based Team Free Sanitary Pads are joining forces to spearhead a protest on Friday to call on the government to take urgent action and completely eradicate period poverty.
With a petition with more than 28 000 signatures, protesters will include members of society and civil rights groups who will hand it over to the government, demanding that South Africa recognise menstrual rights into law, reports Weekend Argus.
Founder of FemConnect Asonele Kotu says: “It is shocking that even in 2022, more than seven million South African women and young girls are being severely hindered, almost punished, due to a natural biological process –their period.
“In many households, young girls unable to afford menstrual products miss out on school due to period shaming, and some even put their life in danger by using leaves or bark of trees to manage their period. This is simply not acceptable.”
Nokuzola Ndwandwe, the founding director of the march, says what is needed is free menstrual products for all females “because period poverty does not discriminate”.
“The Menstrual Rights Law calls for fixed, determinable amounts from National Treasury budgets to be allocated indefinitely towards menstrual health and rights.
“We also call for transparency reports on the spending of funds for menstrual health to see where the funding is going per the budget for period poverty in South Africa,” said Ndwandwe.
The march will start at 10 Darling Street Parking, Hanover Street (next to CPUT) at 10am on Friday.