Period Action Day 2024: Putting the Spotlight on Period Poverty

Period Action Day was launched by an organization called PERIOD. Founded in 2014 by Oregon high school students Nadya Okamoto and Vincent Forand, the initiative aimed to provide menstruation products to those in their community who really needed them.

What started as a grassroots community organization soon grew into a global youth-run nonprofit. By 2017, PERIOD. had grown to over 140 campus chapters across the USA. In 2022 alone, PERIOD. youth leaders hosted over 1,000 hours of menstrual health education workshops. And in 2023, the organization reached the major milestone of over 5 million periods served since they first began. 

In 2019, PERIOD. held the first ever National Period Day. A year later, the initiative was renamed Period Action Day, and the global day of advocacy we know today grew from strength to strength. In honor of Period Action Day 2023, PERIOD. donated more than 1,000,000 period products. And this year promises to be bigger, better, and more action-oriented than ever.

1 in 4 American students struggle to afford the period products they need. And alarmingly, more than 3 in 4 believe that they learn more in school about the biology of a frog than of the female body.

Worrying statistics like these sound like they should be a thing of the past. But the report this data comes from wasn’t released 30, 20, or even 10 years ago. It was released by PERIOD. and Thinx just last year.  

It’s clear that in 2024, period poverty and stigma is very much still a real issue – and not only in the USA. Over in the UK, 48% of girls aged 14-21 report being embarrassed by their periods. In India, as many as 71% of girls don’t even know periods exist until the very first time they menstruate. Here in New Zealand, the home of SaniPod™, it was estimated as recently as 2020 that up to 70,000 New Zealanders still lacked vital access to proper menstruation education.

It’s this worrying lack of access to the right products and education that sees harmful societal taboos stubbornly persist to this day. It leaves millions resorting to managing their menstruation unhygienically and even unsafely – missing out on school, education, and reaching their full potential. 

And it’s why we still need galvanizing global initiatives like Period Action Day, Menstrual Hygiene Day, Menstrual Health Awareness Month, and more.

Period Action Day was built on action. After all, it was the tireless and inspiring actions of its two teenage founders that turned it into the global movement it is today. This year, that spirit of action is closer to the day’s heart than ever, with 2024’s theme of ‘Take Action’. 

So, how can you take action against period poverty and stigma? You could donate directly to PERIOD. to support their efforts to distribute period products, build a menstrual health curriculum for US schools, and help young leaders enact policy change. 

You could attend one of the many Period Action Day events planned all around the world – including rallies, meetings, special screenings, training sessions and more. Or, if there are no events planned near you, you could even sign up to host one of your own. 

From donating period products, through to writing to your elected officials to further menstrual equity legislation in your community, through to making sure your own organization is providing the proper means to manage menstruation. This Period Action Day, there are truly countless ways you can take action.

As one of the world’s leading feminine hygiene bins providers, we have initiatives in place to make sure we’re playing our part – both on Period Action Day, and beyond.

Since 2020, we’ve partnered with a remarkable social enterprise called Dignity NZ to help fight period poverty here in New Zealand. For every SaniPod™ unit sold, we donate $1 to Dignity, supporting their important work to make period products more accessible to all.

We also take part in Dignity’s ‘Buy One, Give One’ corporate sponsorship programme. Through this initiative, businesses provide their employees with free sanitary products, and gift the equivalent to people in the community who need them.

Addressing period equity also starts with providing a proper way for people to manage their menstruation – whoever and wherever they are. That means providing hygienic and functional sanitary bins for offices, and the same high-standard sanitary units for schools.

Every day, we work with organizations and businesses across the US, Canada, UK, Australia, NZ and more. Empowering everyone, everywhere, to manage their periods with dignity, safety and respect. One bathroom at a time.

Take action this Period Action Day, and talk to the SaniPod™ team about how you can make sure your students, employees, and customers always have a safe, discreet, and hygienic way to take care of their periods.