Red Ruby Equity, an initiative by Girl Scout Troop 242, is tackling period poverty in Santa Clarita one menstrual product at a time.
According to one of the three fliers created by troop member Vivian Wakefield, period poverty is “a term used to describe the lack of access to menstrual hygiene products and information on how to use them properly.”
Creating a website and spreading the word, Troop 242’s incentive is to gather donations and products to donate to the Santa Clarita Valley Food Pantry and College of the Canyons.
“Our project is basically gathering up period products to help end period poverty in the Santa Clarita Valley. We want to make sure that people who can’t afford period products have them, because they’re a necessity and women’s health care should matter just as much as anything else,” Wakefield said.
Along with Kaitlyn Hecker, Anvi Pola and the rest of the troop, the efforts were first made in an effort to complete a Silver Award. According to the Girl Scout website, the Silver Award is one of the highest awards, for which Girl Scouts are encouraged to find an issue and make a difference after 50 hours of volunteer work.
“We’ve started up websites and we’ve made fliers. On the website, there’s a wishlist that people can go on and buy stuff for, so we can get supplies that way,” Wakefield said.
“Around 14.2% of women are affected by period poverty. Since this number is so great, it’s important that they have the supplies that they need since this is a monthly thing. It’s very important that women have access to good hygiene and health,” Hecker said. “We went to Arroyo Seco (Junior High School), and the school did not have any period products. There were distributors but they were always empty.”
According to Hecker, the students addressed their vice principal and said that legally there should be period products accessible on campus, and the problem was fixed.
“I did research on causes of period poverty, such as education, because a lot of schools don’t teach about periods and how expensive products are. We also did research on the statistics of how much products cost and the average pad cost, as well as how much it would cost monthly for someone to buy products,” Pola said.
According to Pola, the average cost of a tampon box is $7, with an average of nine boxes purchased per year; pads average $6 per box at 12 boxes per year.
Not only are cost and lack of education major contributors to period poverty, but cultural stigma around menstruation and economic hardship due to the effects of COVID-19 play a role, as well, according to their website.
The troop members, who are 14, hope to continue to grow this initiative as they progress in their Scouting careers, and well beyond that.
“We want people to know that periods are a natural thing and every woman goes through it. You need hygiene products in order to make sure you are healthy and safe during your period, because there are some health risks that can come by not properly taking care of yourself,” Wakefield said.
“Our goal is not only to supply things, but to raise awareness so that everyone knows about this problem, and other things happening such as high taxes on period products,” Hecker said.
“We want to raise awareness, because we’re all humans at the end of day,” Pola said.
To donate to Red Ruby Equity, visit tinyurl.com/f7fs6t6n.
