Free pads and frank discussion: Bangkok schools tackle 鈥榩eriod poverty鈥�
| Bangkok
Since founding her own brand of period pads and liners in 2020, Thai entrepreneur Varangtip Satchatippavarn has given away thousands of products to those in need, including to a low-income community hit by a fire in Bangkok and Myanmar refugees along Thailand鈥檚聽northern border.
鈥淧ublic help under these situations often comes in the form of food or clothing, but hardly anybody thinks about period pads,鈥� she says.聽
Ms. Varangtip is part of a movement in Thailand aiming to address the lack of access to menstrual products and education, a public health problem known as 鈥減eriod poverty.鈥�
Why We Wrote This
A story focused onIn Thailand, improving access to period products requires breaking stigmas as well as material investment. Though national efforts have stalled, local programs have created space for young people and experts to openly address menstrual health.
As with providing free menstrual products, period poverty remains an under-addressed issue in Thailand, where many members of low-income communities consider necessities like pads a luxury. Stigma around periods has limited research on the impact of period poverty, and national policies seeking to improve access to menstrual products have foundered. But successful local projects, such as the targeted distribution of free pads in Bangkok schools, prove that eradicating period poverty can be 鈥渆conomically viable,鈥� says Ms. Varangtip.
鈥淭hailand鈥檚 health welfare includes free condoms and birth control pills. I鈥檓 sure providing free period pads can be done,鈥� she says.
Addressing needs
, a think tank backed by political party Move Forward, says that throughout the estimated 40 years that a woman has her period, she could spend as much as 84,000 baht ($2,400) on menstrual products. That鈥檚 a heavy burden in a country where the minimum wage is about $10 a day.
The group proposes the government eradicate the 7% value-added tax on all female hygiene products, and subsidize them instead. Other countries have gone even further: In 2020, Scotland provided free tampons and sanitary pads for everyone, followed by New Zealand, which started the giveaways in all schools in 2021.
Although many parties and women鈥檚 rights groups spoke out about period poverty ahead of Thailand鈥檚 2023 election, there鈥檚 been little progress since, in part because of pervasive taboos around menstruation in the Buddhist-majority country.聽
Locally, however, there has been some action. Last year, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration started providing free period pads to teen and preteen students in seven schools across the capital, becoming the first public organization to do so. The BMA distributed more than 220,000 period pads to 1,885 students in the first few months, and it aims to expand the program to cover as many as 28,000 students across dozens of schools in the future.
Wat Phai Ngoen Chotinaram elementary school, which lies just a short walk from a low-income community where many students live, now provides young girls 15 period pads a month.聽
鈥淭he program helps a lot because some students with financial constraints previously had to wear one period pad for the whole day, with the help of tissue paper to prevent from soaking, which is unhygienic,鈥� says school principal Saipin Lomphong. 鈥淣ow parents don鈥檛 have to pay more stipend for children to buy period pads anymore.鈥�
Kwankhao, an 11-year-old student who asked to withhold her last name for privacy, says her family gives her a daily allowance of 60 baht, or $1.70. She used to spend 80 baht on pads, but now she joins dozens of other girls who go to the school鈥檚 meeting hall each month to receive period pads for free.
There, teachers have a chance to check in and advise students on how to treat period cramps and properly dispose of used pads. Teachers also encourage them to share this knowledge with their friends.
鈥淪ome friends who don鈥檛 have a period yet or don鈥檛 live with female relatives 鈥� are very curious about periods,鈥� says Kwankhao.
Creating new norms
As part of its period pad program, the BMA has reached out to women鈥檚 rights campaigners to talk in schools about menstruation and sex education. Ms. Varangtip was recently invited to talk to 600 female students.
鈥淨uestions I got asked included whether they can drink soda or eat spicy dishes, or if they can have a cold shower during their period,鈥� she says.聽
鈥淚 think male students should attend too,鈥� she adds, 鈥渂ut it鈥檚 up to the school.鈥�
Such conversations are needed outside of Bangkok as well.聽
Wannakanok Pohitaedaoh, president of the Association for Children and Youth for Peace in the Deep South, works with about 200 low-income communities in Thailand鈥檚 southernmost provinces. Her organization sometimes receives donations, but period pads are rare.
鈥淢any families work as laborers in rubber farms or shrimp farms, and are paid just 100 baht a day,鈥� she says. 鈥淵ouths in the area, as they cannot afford sanitary products, use period pads only at night, and a piece of cloth in the daytime.鈥�
While she would love to see Thailand provide free sanitary products nationwide, Ms. Wannakanok doesn鈥檛 see that happening any time soon.
鈥淭he country needs someone in the ministerial position to be really sensitive about woman and child issues,鈥� she says.
Ms. Varangtip, whose brand offers promotional rates for offices and schools that provide free period products, hopes that smaller-scale programs will help move the ball forward.
鈥淲e aim to create a new norm here,鈥� she says. 鈥淧roviding sanitary products is an organization鈥檚 own welfare and well-being, but sometimes decision-makers are male and don鈥檛 see it as a pressing issue. 鈥� So we still have a long way to go.鈥�
