Enforced period poverty & the Hostile Environment
Nisaba x Migrants’ Rights Network
Stigma and shame around periods is alive and kicking. Combined with the escalating cost-of-living and the Hostile Environment, migrants (particularly those with no recourse to public funds or in the asylum system) are facing enforced period poverty.
As part of Migrants’ Rights Network’s Gender, Queerness and Migration campaign, we’re interested in highlighting how systems of oppression like sexism, racism or queerphobia can intersect with immigration status to create unique barriers, including restricting access to period products for migrants who menstruate.
Health not Hygiene
The 28th of May is actually officially recognised as Menstrual Hygiene Day, but we have decided to call it Menstrual Health Day. This is because the term “hygiene” or sanitation can reinforce the harmful and false notion that periods are dirty, unclean or something to be ashamed of. As Bloody Good Period argues, using the language of “health” encourages us to see the political dimensions of menstruation and to think about the systemic oppressions that make menstrual health inaccessible to so many.
Period poverty
Period poverty is not exclusive to migrant communities. Social-economic inequity impacts a huge number of women and people who menstruate. In the UK, period products aren’t free and accessible which means that many people can’t afford or access them.
Our friends at Bloody Good Period have found that:
41% of women and people who menstruate are now struggling to access period products – or 2 in 5 (up from 1 in 5 in the In Kind Direct data published in 2024)
63% have used a substitute for a period product – most often toilet paper (62%) or tissue (48%), but also old underwear (15%), cloth rags (14%), nappies (9%), socks (9%), newspapers (7%)
78% say [free period products] would make it easier for them to participate in social, education and recreational activities during their period (42% significantly)
For migrants who menstruate who have NRPF or are in the asylum system on £8 a week, accessing period products can be extremely challenging. Period products can range from 75p to £3.40 for period pads, £1.30 to £5.75 for tampons and between £21 to £23.49 for a mooncup* – depending on quantity per box, size and brand. This constitutes a huge amount of money for migrants on restricted income. This can exacerbate poor health outcomes for migrants, including refugees and people seeking asylum, such as infection or toxic shock syndrome from using products for longer than recommended. Even if ‘contingency hotels’ provide free period products for migrants, including refugees and people seeking asylum, there have been numerous complaints reported to Nisaba that products are poor quality, low absorbency and cause skin irritation and reactions.
Decolonising Menstruation
Menstrual justice goes hand-in-hand with decolonisation. That includes decolonising healthcare, specifically menstruation, reproductive healthcare and contraception. There’s a huge amount of work by menstrual justice organisations integrating pre-colonial menstrual practices particularly indigenous practices, acknowledging their colonisation by European male-dominated interests and acknowledging lived experiences beyond those of just straight, cisgendered, White women. This means we must address systemic racism that dismisses the pain or symptoms of racialised women, including migrants.
An essential part of decolonisation is pushing back against companies that profit from menstruation and create products with irritant chemicals such as parabens, methylchloroisothiazolinone, dioxins and furans. Nisaba echoes the call for a Menstrual Health, Dignity and Sustainability Act, led by WEN to encompass all aspects of menstruation to safeguard women, girls, people who menstruate, and the environment.
Menstrual Justice For All
A journey of migration, the risk of destitution, little to no recourse to public funds, ‘pink tax’, racism, prejudice, generational trauma, lack of access to nutritious whole foods and herbs, can impact menstrual cycles and how we respond.
In line with reproductive and menstrual justice organisations, we want a world where everyone who menstruates has access to the resources they need and can bleed with dignity, including migrants, trans men and non-binary people who menstruate. The increase of anti-migrant and transphobic rhetoric in addition to the growing misogyny and new police guidance which gives police the powers to check menstrual cycle tracking apps after unexpected pregnancy loss are part of Government and corporate attempts to control our bodies. That’s why menstrual justice is an important step in collective justice and dismantling the structures that oppress us all.
If you require resources, Nisaba and Bloody Good Period have lots of information available.
*According to Boots as of May 2025
