Menstrual products are essential health items, but they remain unaffordable for far too many people. In Canada, one in six people who menstruate do not know whether they can find the money for the products they’ll need for their next period. This level of financial insecurity around a basic bodily function must be addressed as a critical component for advancing public health and equity across Ontario.
Period poverty is a public health issue.
When people cannot afford menstrual products, the consequences extend far beyond inconvenience. Evidence shows many turn to unsafe substitutes such as rags, toilet paper or the use of products far beyond their recommended duration. These practices increase the risk of infection and other preventable health complications.
The mental health impacts are also significant. Lack of access to menstrual products can contribute to stress, anxiety and a sense of shame, leaving many feeling isolated.
This mental health toll is often compounded by the practical barriers that menstrual inequity can create in daily life. For students, it can lead to missing school, affecting academic performance and longer-term opportunities. For workers, it can mean missing shifts or facing reduced productivity, consequences that disproportionately harm those with precarious employment and limited financial security.
Importantly, period poverty does not affect everyone equally. It disproportionately impacts individuals who already face systemic barriers: low-income people, those experiencing homelessness, Indigenous communities, newcomers, undocumented residents, and gender diverse individuals. For these groups, the inability to access menstrual products is often one more layer in a broader web of inequality.
What is menstrual equity?
Access to safe environments in which to menstruate, including bathroom facilities and clean water, as well as access to menstrual products that allow for the ability to go to school, work and engage in life with dignity.
Tackling the gap is complicated by stigma.
Despite menstruation being a natural part of life for almost half the population at some point in their life span, it is often heavily stigmatized. Fifty-two per cent of young women think the word “period” is dirty or inappropriate, and many Canadian women report never receiving comprehensive education about their periods.
The stigma makes it difficult to discuss menstrual health openly, preventing people from seeking medical care for severe pain, abnormalities or even common menstrual symptoms such as fatigue and headaches.
Fundamentally, the challenge is not just the financial burden, it is that even talking about periods is perceived as taboo. Unless stigma is addressed, solutions to this inequity will likely remain incomplete.
There have been positive policy changes, but gaps remain.
Ontario has taken some encouraging steps toward improving period poverty. In 2021, the province announced a partnership to provide free menstrual products in public schools and in 2024, they extended the program for another three years. Initiatives have also been launched in other municipalities, including the City of Mississauga and in Huron County.
Significant gaps remain, however. While federal funding has enabled some non-profits like Food Banks Canada to combine menstrual products with their grocery provisions, access to products is inconsistent across other systems that serve the most vulnerable populations. This includes in shelters, rural and northern communities, and support programs for newcomers and undocumented residents.
Unfortunately, Ontario currently collects only limited data on menstrual product provision, making it difficult to track progress or identify where needs are greatest.
Achieving menstrual equity in Ontario – access to safe environments in which to menstruate – is both possible and necessary.
Expanding universal access to menstrual products through legislation and/or public programs would be a concrete step toward reducing health inequities and supporting dignity for all who menstruate.
Lasting change requires more than product provision. It requires cultural, social and systemic shifts.
Ontario has an opportunity to lead by developing a coordinated, province-wide strategy that centres dignity, choice and equity. Menstrual health is not a luxury. It is a matter of well-being, inclusion and public health.