The Period Promise: The Impact and Return on Investment of Providing Subsidized Menstrual Hygiene Products
Poverty has far-reaching impacts in all aspects of an individual's life, affecting their psychological, physical, and social well-being. RWI Synthetics recently utilized our data-backed insights to show precisely how period poverty, in particular, negatively affects menstruating individuals.
Period poverty describes an inability to acquire menstrual products, access facilities, or receive education due to low income or social barriers. Period products can present a significant and disproportionate financial burden for those making less than $40,000 annually.
RWI Synthetics demonstrated the human cost of expensive products and stigma around periods using our Synthesized Twin of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region (EMR) and showing the social and economic benefits of providing free period products. This work was conducted in partnership with the United Way of the Alberta Capital Region, whose “Period Promise” campaign aims to address these barriers and the stigma associated with menstruation.
The Human Cost
The average menstruating individual will experience 450 cycles over their lifetime, which equates to roughly 39 to 65 days out of the year when period products are required. That means paying an average of $169 to $260 annually for menstrual hygiene items, with some individuals requiring more products and significantly higher prices in some rural and remote areas.
One in six Canadians who menstruate have experienced period poverty, and this rises to one in four if their household earns less than $40,000 a year. Moreover, there is another layer of hidden loss for those whose lives are disrupted by period poverty. The annual income loss at risk for a woman who misses one day of work per menstrual cycle is $2462, and 63% of women and girls have had to miss an activity regularly or occasionally due to not being able to afford period products.
One hundred thirty thousand girls in the Edmonton region are of menstrual age, and one in seven will miss school for lack of access to period products.
Beyond the economic costs, there is also the social and psychological stigma associated with not just period poverty and lack of access, but the very concept of menstruation cycles. In the EMR, 54% of women aged 18 to 24 have felt embarrassed talking about their experiences with pre-menstrual syndrome (PMS), and 52% think the word “period” is considered inappropriate.
The stigma associated with periods inhibits discussion about access to products, creating a social feedback loop where the concept of period poverty both influences and is influenced by the stigma.
However, there is a solution.
Case Studies Around the Globe
This is a feasible solution already being implemented in other metropolitan areas.
Victoria, Australia, has rolled out a program providing free period products in public locations across the state. The first phase saw 50 free vending kiosks at 30 trial sites, which cost $23 million to install. While that might seem like a hefty investment, Victoria distributed more than 20,000 products in the first few months of the program, according to an article by the Sydney Morning Herald.
For those utilizing the products, this represents a savings of over $120,000 in just a few months. Over 700 sites with vending machines are now planned across Victoria.
In the United Kingdom, Wales is in the process of implementing a £3.2 million “Period Dignity” fund, in a bid to end period poverty in the nation by 2027.
"By making free period products widely available across Wales, we're not just addressing period poverty – we're empowering women to participate fully in life without barriers,” said Sarah Murphy, the Welsh minister for mental health and well-being.
The products are now freely available in various locations, including every school and college in Wales, libraries, leisure centers, sports clubs, and food banks.
The tangible, quantifiable benefits of potential solutions like these can be made visible through RWI’s Synthetic Twin of the EMR.
Quantifying the Beneficial Impact
Our Synthetic Twin of the Edmonton region allows RWI and our Regional Edmonton Advanced Lab partners to play forward emerging socioeconomic trends, run scenarios to improve quality of life, model complex potential futures, and, in this case, to see the effect of free or subsidized period products. By providing menstrual products, there is a massive opportunity to create a visibly better future for half the population: $527 million per year in total income lost due to missed work days and period poverty, and the potential relief of $100 million in annual financial burden for product purchases.
This potential implementation would also affect graduation rates. The data revealed that 18,000 young people may miss school for lack of access to period products, with up to 2,880 students in the region at risk of failing to graduate due to missed classes.
Free or subsidized hygiene products can support student engagement, attendance, and extracurricular participation, boosting graduation rates. RWI’s analysis shows that even a 1% increase in graduation leads to a 0.05% increase in GDP growth rate, contributing up to $96 million to the EMR economy. Moreover, there are associated benefits such as decreased healthcare costs, promotion of gender equity and a further narrowing of the gender gap, and an opportunity to return power, dignity and agency to a large portion of the population.
RWI’s insights make the return on investment visible and show how inequitable access to the necessities of life for women has a cost that we can calculate and remediate, making a difference for the 51% today.