Every Period Counts
Every Period Counts
Irise co-created the Every Period Counts campaign with 60 young people from 10 groups across the UK to hold the government to account for its commitment to end period poverty and inequity. Seventeen UK charities, including Girl Guiding UK and Plan International UK, backed the campaign. Young people collected over 600 stories of period challenges from their peers and four campaign partners came together to commission new nationally representative data. The new data found that over a third of girls across the UK were still unable to get period products in school when they needed them and were missing out on class as a result - an estimated 3.5 million days of school every year.
The Period Parade - May 2023
On the 28th May 2023, hundreds of young activists and period campaigners took to the streets of Westminster to raise awareness of the 148,675,312 lessons that are being missed every year due to a lack of access to period products and the shame surrounding periods in schools, as part of the Every Period Counts campaign’s Period Parade. The accompanying media campaign, with 10 youth campaigners as spokespeople, reached 791 million people on social media and was covered by the BBC and the Guardian.
This kickstarted a powerful agenda of change. The UK government’s Women’s Health Ambassador, Lesley Regan, who is chairing a review into the Relationships, Sex and Education curriculum, met with young campaigners to hear about their experiences. The Department for Education hosted Roundtable discussions with young people to improve guidance for the Period Product Scheme in England, and plans to hold termly roundtables going forward. Irise continues this work - bringing together the youth-movement and schools to develop school toilet policies that ensure period dignity for all.
Every Period Counts shifts the shame from young people back to those in power to bring a much-needed end to period poverty through shame-free access to period products in all schools.
The parade followed new research commissioned by Irise International, and Every Period Counts campaign allies Cysters, Freedom4Girls, InKind Direct, & Bloody Good Period finding that nearly half of all school girls are struggling to access period products at school, and 61% of girls have had issues accessing toilets in lessons when on their period, resulting in a third of young girls missing school to skip the shame.
As part of the parade, young activists were able to deliver a selection of the over 600 stories young people have shared about their experiences managing periods in UK schools and colleges as well as a list of policy asks to end period poverty, inequality, and shame in UK schools and an open letter signed by 21 leading period equality campaigners and organisations supporting the campaign.
