Women reportedly had difficulty accessing feminine hygiene products during the pandemic, prompting Episcopal churches to offer it as part of their ministry.
The Episcopal News Service said the study, "State Of The Period 2021," revealed that 23% of aged 13-19 students experienced were not able to afford menstrual products last year. While more than half or 51% of women wore menstrual hygiene products longer than recommended due to financial difficulties.
In addition, the Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology published a separate study that showed almost two-thirds of women were unable to buy sanitary pads or tampons at some point last 2021.
These circumstances show the hidden indignity experienced by women and girls due to menstrual inequity in the United States. This has led women and girls to skip work or school out of embarrassment.
One of the ministries is the Tampon Truck of St. Philip's Church in Dyker Heights, Brooklyn. Priest-in-charge Rev. Suzanne Culhane recalled instances she was approached by mothers at the start of the pandemic and around Thanksgiving 2020 asking for help to buy tampons.
"I knew we had to do something locally about it," Culhane told the Episcopal News Service.
While St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Athens, Tennessee started "Love, Period." after its Senior Warden Courtney Crittenden encountered statistics on period poverty. Courtney said she raised the issue in their adult education class on Bathsheba. The class delved into Bathsheba's use of mikvah for her monthly ritual cleansing.
"Love, Period." has already distributed hundreds of thousands of menstrual products through grants and financial donations. Crittenden affirmed that the pandemic has affected access to feminine hygiene products. They have seen a drastic increase in demand for supplies during the pandemic.
An encounter with a nonprofit from Boston that distributed hygiene products has opened the eyes of St. John the Evangelist Episcopal Parish' Kenzie Blackwell to establish its "Free" ministry. Blackwell recounted asking the nonprofit if they needed more supplies of feminine hygiene products.
The nonprofit responded positively and told her they have difficulty keeping them in stock. She was told by the teenage girls of the nonprofit that they had to drop or miss school since they can't afford to buy their needed period products. Blackwell said "the world shifted under" her "feet" when she learned this and everything changed since then.
According to Crittenden, beyond providing supplies they have also gone one step further by educating people and removing stigma in the use of terminologies related to menstruation.
"We didn't want to refer to the products in terms that seemed like menstruators were dirty from bleeding," Crittenden shared.
A matter St. John's Episcopal Church Rector Rev. Tim Schenck of Jackson Hole, Wyoming agrees to. Schenck said their "Tampom Team," which refills feminine hygiene products in two grocery store bathrooms, has experienced. The team also hands out products every National Period Day, which is celebrated on October 9. The team includes male rectors who know it is taboo to speak of menstruation when women are in company. Yet Schenck said being part of the team has already made this a normal thing.
"This is part of the church's responsibility to take away the shame associated with this, but also to normalize it. This is a basic biological function and so we should certainly be talking about it," Schenck pointed out.
