This research by phs Group found that girls are missing 54 days of education over their teenage years due to their periods, with girls taking more time off school for periods than colds or truancy. Whilst progress has been made in providing free period products in school washrooms, most girls are failing to access them.
The missed time at school is the equivalent of 11 academic weeks, and worse than before period equality schemes were in force at schools, according to the research.
The paper reveals that while significant progress has been made in making menstrual products more accessible in education settings through funding them for free, over half of students (52%) did not find period products freely available in washrooms and a further one in seven (14%) did not know if they were available.
While period equality schemes across the UK have been lauded as a success with extremely high engagement from schools – in England alone, 99% of secondary schools have ordered their quota of products since the scheme began, the new statistics highlight issues getting products to girls, and keeping girls in lessons.
One in 12 (8%) stayed away from lessons because no period products were available to them – 3% higher than in 2019 – while 5% could not afford them, also an increase of 3% on pre-pandemic levels.