Period Poverty Campaign: Lebanese Edition
Five young university women joined together to fight for a silenced cause in Lebanon: period poverty. Period poverty has been increasing at alarming rates across Lebanon, and it is up to the youth to do something about it. In fact, 500 million women and girls around the world do not have access to proper menstrual hygiene products. That number, however, only corresponds to the countries that actually have credible statistics on the matter. As for nations in the likes of Lebanon, we suffer immensely from period poverty and lack of awareness on the matter due to the topic ranking as taboo.
In response to Lebanon’s dire economic and political instability over the past year, the government decided to subsidize 300 items (basic physical needs from food sustenance to care necessities) hence lowering the hyperinflation effect on Lebanese citizens. Feminine hygiene products missing from the list of subsidized items came as no surprise, as they were deemed unnecessary and a “luxury product” by the seven men who filtered the list. Lebanon’s Head of Office at the United Nations Population Fund has in fact commented on the matter, as she describes the situation as “visibly increasing,” while there is no proper evidence or study that backs that notion due to lack of awareness.
As for the campaign we are launching, we naturally chose the red lip to be our symbol. Historically, red lips have been the famous symbol of the American suffrage movement. Before you know it, all activists fighting for women’s equal rights have donned red lips, as a powerful and bold symbol of advocation. Therefore, we extend our equal rights movement to include the end of period poverty, one red lip at a time. Check out our Instagram page, put on some red lipstick, and join the movement to end period poverty!
