Period Poverty: Nicola Sturgeon deserves praise for making sanitary products free for all in Scotland – Hayley Matthews

I'd never really thought about period poverty until one day I was filming for STV out at the Lanarkshire Baby Bank.

Campaigners demonstrate outside the Scottish Parliament in support of the Period Products Bill. (Picture: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

It was set up to help families in financial hardship who were in desperate need of basic supplies for their babies and young children.

After being set up by Bernadette Murphy, the donations became so huge in size that they started to help older children and also recognised many families were in need of basic essentials as they brought young children into the world.

The baby bank grew in size dramatically and eventually became a very big charity helping many families in Scotland.

When I filmed with them, there were some very upsetting stories about families struggling that I recall. I remember one about a baby having to sleep in a drawer lined with a towel and sheets because the family couldn't afford a cot.

Other stories pulled on my heartstrings and I found this reality of poverty, on our doorstep, very hard to accept. The one story, however, that sticks with me was one about a mum who had three girls, all reaching puberty and she was unable to afford sanitary products.

Being a mother, she did what she needed to do to provide for her girls so she would rip up old bed sheets and towels to give to her girls to put in their underwear. Yes, this is happening in Scotland in 2020! What an incredibly stressful and embarrassing situation for any young girl or mother.

Scotland has become the first country to make period products freely available (Picture: Jane Barlow/PA Wire)

So with the Scottish government announcing free sanitary products for all who need them, I'm sure it's a welcome bit of news for many living on a meagre income and that's just about all of us at the moment.

A close friend always said to me how, if it were men who menstruated every three weeks, then sanitary products would be free.

I'm sure she'll be delighted by the recent news and probably won't be surprised that this has been put in place at a time when a woman is in charge of the Scottish government.

Thank you Nicola for recognising that so many are living in period poverty and something needed to be done about it. I often think about that mother and her girls and wondered how they all coped. It was only a few years ago so the chances are they'll still be in need of sanitary products and I hope this news is a small relief for them and all those struggling to afford the basics.

The passing of this law, I believe, says a lot about where we are now, not just recognising this is an essential need for any young girl or woman, but that I can actually write an article about periods without feeling people will cringe whilst scrolling through the words, menstruating, periods, blood clots and cramps, although I'm sure many would still prefer they were called "women's issues".

However, this is real life and the fact of the matter is that had it not been for a woman having a monthly period some years ago and being able to conceive you in that amazing little organ called a womb, then you wouldn't be sitting here right now, reading this article. Women's bodies are amazing so respect the periods – period!

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