According to UNICEF, one in six Australian children live in poverty and among them are girls who cannot afford period products.
As more people struggle with the rising cost of living, period products are becoming less accessible.
This month, a donation box at Woolworths will be available for anyone to give period products to someone in need.
The products will be collected by Share the Dignity for their Dignity Drive, which runs in March.
About $2.7 million has been donated to Share The Dignity, which has helped fund 109 Dignity Vending Machines across Australia which dispense free period products.
Woolworths will also contribute by donating 5c from every period product bought during the Drive.
According to Share The Dignity, more than 170,000 women and girls need period product help.
Domestic violence survivor and Share the Dignity advocate Kim Hamson had to make pads out of cotton wool to get by and manage her period while trying to make ends meet.
“There was a year or two where I used to use cotton wool that comes in a reel and is really cheap, I would layer toilet paper underneath it and try to manage my period that way,” Ms Hamson said.
“While it allowed me to get by at the time, in my experience it does take your dignity away.”
Ms Hamson has been a recipient of Share the Dignity donations.
All period products collected through the Dignity Drive will go to community groups, refuge centres, homeless shelters and other organisations partnered with Share The Dignity.
Share the Dignity founder Rochelle Courtenay said the initiative is to ensure menstrual equity for Australians.
“Every Dignity Drive, I receive messages from our charity partners expressing their gratitude for the period products, it allows them to ensure their clients can deal with their period with dignity,” Ms Courtenay said.
“If you have the means to do so, I urge you to drop period products into our collection points nationwide, you never know what someone is going through and at the very least let’s ensure women, girls and those who menstruate don’t have to use cotton wool, toilet paper or socks to manage their period.
“Not only do I hope to be able to collect the period products we need, but I hope we can make a tangible change for future generations, by receiving at least 200,000 responses to our Bloody Big Survey. The data collected will help us advocate for change and allow us to show Australia how fundamentally important ensuring menstrual equity is.”
Share the Dignity will be conducting its second Big Bloody Survey. The 2021 survey had 125,000 respondents which made it the world’s largest body of data on menstruation.
One in five people who menstruate had to improvise on period products according to the 2021 survey.
This year, they hope to find out whether or not period poverty has risen since in their second survey which is open until 31 May.
To take part in Share the Dignity’s Bloody Big Survey go to: https://www.sharethedignity.org.au/end-period-poverty/bloody-big-survey-2024
To find your nearest donation point, go to: https://www.sharethedignity.org.au/dignity-drives
