#FreePeriods: Adwoa Aboah and Daisy Lowe to join London protest to end period poverty

This is why people will be wearing red and taking to London’s streets on Wednesday December 20

On Wednesday December 20, hundreds of people are expected to take to London’s streets to protest against period poverty.

In the UK, girls as young as 10 routinely miss school because they are unable to afford sanitary products. The Standard recently spoke to 18-year-old Amika George who began the #FreePeriods campaign in order to create awareness around period poverty and petition for free sanitary products to young girls who are on free school meals.

The A-Level student explained: “These children would face enormous anxiety while sitting in lessons, fearful that they’d bled onto their uniform, so the easiest solution was often simply to miss school. It was clear to me that missing lessons means falling further behind in academic progress, and these children find they are such a long way off from attaining their goals and ambitions, all because they bleed.”

Now Amika, along with Scarlett Curtis and Grace Campbell of The Pink Protest have organised the #FreePeriods protest to end period poverty.

What is the #FreePeriods protest?

The protest is calling on Theresa May to make sanitary products accessible to every girl receiving free school meals. It is also bringing period poverty to the forefront of conversations.

Amika added: “The ideal result is for the Government to make a statutory pledge to provide free menstrual products to girls who need them but my campaign is two-pronged in that I’m working to smash the ridiculous, gender-biased taboo surrounding periods.

“We need to normalise conversations around menstruation- that’s so important! There are lots of fantastic organisations working to end the stigma and its working.”

When and where is the #FreePeriods protest?

The protest is from 5pm to 8pm on Wednesday December 20 and will be at Richmond Terrace, Westminster.

Will there be any celebrities in attendance?

Yes, there will be a number of speakers at the protest all there in support of women’s rights and putting an end to period poverty. These include models Suki Waterhouse, Adwoa Aboah and Daisy Lowe, YouTuber Tanya Burr, The Guilty Feminist podcast host Deobrah Frances White and MPs Jess Phillips and Paula Sherriff.

Do I need to wear anything in particular?

Attendees are encouraged to wear red. As the protest Facebook event says: “We will wear red to show the British government that we're not ashamed of blood and they shouldn't be either.”

If I can’t attend the protest, how else can I support #FreePeriods?

You can sign the #FreePeriods change.org petition here and head to their website where you can find more details of the protest, sign up to the newsletter and email and tweet Education Secretary Justine Greening.

To find out more about Amika’s campign and #FreePeriods, visit the website freeperiods.org.

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