An Interdisciplinary Project Mapping Experiences of Young Women in the Context of Period Poverty in Contemporary Britain

'Period poverty' is an increasingly popular term referring to the inability to afford menstruation products. It is a growing social issue in contemporary Britain within the socio-political context of austerity, with many menstruating girls and women suffering from the expense of sanitary wear. At the forefront of public debate, period poverty has been visualised through UK media discourse and continued to dwell in public rhetoric since 2016. However, there is a noticeable neglect of empirical research on this social epidemic in scholarship. This project contributes to the under-developed scholarly conversation of period poverty in contemporary Britain. Through an interdisciplinary lens, this PhD project explores the everyday lived experiences of young sixth-form women negotiating the socio-political site of the school and their bodies in the context of period poverty. Drawing from human geography, sociology and anthropological research and methodologies, this empirical research is firmly positioned within a feminist theoretical and political framework to develop the academic discussion of period poverty and menstruation in the social sciences. Using qualitative creative methods and semi-structured interviews, this research provides significant empirical evidence of the everyday lived experiences of young women in the North East of England. Overall this project aims to inform research for scholars, policy and education to improve the overall social and mental well-being and status of women in contemporary Britain.