Words by Smiley Team
Young women from across the UK are leading the way to period equality.
The Empower Period Forum, hosted by menstrual health charity Irise International, is bringing together passionate young activists across the UK.
Period poverty and shame affects hundreds of thousands of people in the UK, and the pandemic has only made this worse, with more girls, women and people with periods struggling to obtain control over their bodies and futures.
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Over the past year and a half, Irise has hosted the Empower Period Forum, a collective of young people and youth led groups leading their own initiatives to end period poverty and shame in their communities.
In a series of consultations with those with lived experience of period inequality, activists discovered that many are faced with inadequate menstrual health education – or none at all – and significant barriers to accessing appropriate treatment and support for menstrual-health related issues.
Safiya, 24, co-campaign convenor of the Forum said, "A vital part of The Forum is the time and energy invested in speaking directly with the people impacted to ensure that we are working WITH the community, to ensure we effectively work towards empowering girls, women and people with periods."
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This September, The Forum are bringing together activists, organisations and politicians for the launch of their national campaign to end period poverty and shame in the UK and empower girls, women and people with periods.
Through using The Forum’s manifesto to catalyse policy change, whilst providing practical ways to support people with periods and lobbying for commitment to the issues menstruators face, it aims to restore power back to those with periods, enabling them to thrive.
If you would like to attend The Forum’s campaign launch event, register your interest. Irise is an award winning international NGO working to build a world where no one is held back by being born female. More about our work at www.irise.org.uk.
