Period poverty in New Zealand: the failed recognition of menstrual products as basic health necessities

Abstract

Period poverty is a pervasive public health issue, caused by a lack of affordability of menstrual products. Participants articulated the main consequences of period poverty as having to use unhygienic alternatives to menstrual products, missing significant events in their lives, and feeling self-pity, fear and isolation. This thesis investigates why menstrual products are not treated as a basic health need and what needs to happen at the political level to change this situation. Both these research questions are explored from the perspectives of South Asian women affected by period poverty in New Zealand. Fourteen South-Asian women with lived experiences of period poverty were interviewed for this study. A thematic analysis within a qualitative, feminist framework and a public health approach were used to analyse the data. Four latent themes emerged from the results: Fear, Them vs. Us, Buying menstrual products is a necessity, not a choice, and Women's things are always monetised. This study found that because menstrual products are a gendered need for women, men have capitalised on women’s dependency on this product for their own financial gain. This has, consequently, made menstrual products unaffordable to women. Participants identified public health approaches with support from other governmental agencies like the education and employment sectors as critical to resolving this issue. The strategies participants suggested to address period poverty in New Zealand were introducing comprehensive menstrual education into schools; providing free menstrual products in schools; the government subsiding the cost of menstrual products; and creating platforms for women to discuss their struggles with period poverty openly.