LECTURE

Period Poverty and Menstrual Health

TUE 6 MAY, 20:00
Auditorium, Minderbroedersberg 4-6

Maria Carmen Punzi, PhD

Researcher Menstrual Health, Gender Equity and Organizational Change, Erasmus University Rotterdam

Menstruation affects the lives of half the world’s population: it influences budget choices, opportunities, participation in society and, in the long run, inequality. Linked to this is period poverty; not being financially able to buy the menstrual products you need, even though you are expected to perform at school or work. Period poverty is a pivotal equality issue: worldwide, girls and women stay at home several days a month due to pain or not being able to pay for changing products. These are valuable missed education or working days, which cost themselves, and eventually society, a lot. Still, there is relatively little acknowledgement of this. In addition, even though changes are visible, menstrual health is still a taboo subject. How come? In this lecture Maria Carmen Punzi explains in what ways systemic inequality linked to menstrual health is manifested and institutionalized within our society, how this can be changed in concrete terms, and what is already happening right now.
 

 

06 May 2025

20:00 - 21:30