The Awesome Way This Woman Is Tackling Period Poverty At Her University

A woman studying at the University of the West of England (UWE) has used £100 of her student loan to provide free tampons for her fellow students.

Daisy Wakefield, who's studying for a degree in Drawing and Print, said she felt compelled to spend her own money on the sanitary products because the Bristol university had failed to act.

Announcing the scheme on Instagram, Wakefield told followers: "After many emails saying 'I’ll get back to you' or 'I’m not sure', I’m tired of @uwebristol not addressing the crisis that is period poverty in the UK. Therefore, I, Daisy Wakefield have been forced to take matters into my own hands by supplying FREE sanitary products on all @uwebristol campuses."

Wakefield has designed custom packaging for 4o boxes of free tampons, and distributed them in bathrooms around the UWE campus.

In a follow-up post, Wakefield wrote: "If one student using their student loan can provide, hand make and assemble 40 sanitary boxes, UWE most definitely can."

The university said in response: "Period poverty is a global issue and we're pleased UWE Bristol students are passionately advocating for change. The university does not currently supply free sanitary products on campus, though we would be pleased to meet with students to understand if there is an emerging need for this."

Chancellor Phillip Hammond announced in March that free sanitary products will be made available in all secondary schools in England from September.

Dawn Butler, the shadow minister for women and equalities, called the new scheme in English secondary schools "a victory for all those who have campaigned for an end to period poverty".

"It's a disgrace that period poverty exists in the sixth richest country in the world," she added.

It was announced earlier today that a similar scheme to provide free sanitary products in Welsh secondary schools will also be rolled out, the BBC reports.

Scotland announced its own scheme making sanitary products available free to school pupils to help "banish the scourge of period poverty" in August 2018.