Period poverty campaign for free sanitary products on Teesside

Women are having to chose between sanitary products and food, organisers say

A campaign to provide free sanitary products for women and girls who cannot afford them has been launched.

Free Period wants to provide tampons and pads in secondary schools, colleges and pharmacies in the Tees Valley.

Organiser Emma Chesworth said women were "being forced to choose between putting food on the table or buying sanitary products".

"All women and girls deserve to have their period with dignity and that's just not happening," she said.

Campaigners say if funding can be made available for free contraception, it can also be provided "for women and girls to have the basic necessities".

Emma Chesworth said women should be able to have their period "with dignity"

They want to provide the service through pharmacies because food banks only open a few hours a week.

"We have heard from food banks and women's organisations that women and girls are having to use socks during their periods or rags or even newspapers and that's just not acceptable," Ms Chesworth said.

Crosswell pharmacy manager Kayleigh Davison said "pharmacists would be very open" to a scheme to provide free products.

"Pharmacies are very accessible, there are a lot of pharmacies everywhere. It's not very hard for young people to access pharmacies," she said.

Middlesbrough College welfare officer Alice Reid said the "shame and stigma attached to having a period" prevented girls asking for help with protection.

"It's what encourages girls to miss school rather than come and risk the fact that someone might find out they're on their period," she said

"It beggars belief when you start thinking about it because it's not a luxury, it's not something you can choose as well, it's a basic human need, sanitary protection."

Alice Reid said young girls were often too embarrassed to ask for protection