15-year-old Mirin has been experiencing issues with her gynaecological health since her first period. She has been working closely with us as we inform and shape the next phase of the Scottish Government’s Women’s Health Plan, speaking out about the ways she has felt neglected in healthcare settings.  

In this post, Mirin reflects on organising the first Menstrual Health Day at her school in the West of Scotland to raise awareness of periods and the different ways young people experience them. 

Note: ‘Menstrual Hygiene Day’ takes place every year on the 28^th May, raising awareness and driving change for a period friendly world. ‘Menstrual Health Day’ is instead used throughout this article, recognising that the term ‘hygiene’ can further stigma around periods and cleanliness. Read more about this choice of language on Bloody Good Period’s Instagram post. 

I always wanted to have a Menstrual Health Day at school, but I didn’t have the confidence or know where to start. The thing that led me to do it was my own personal experience. I have had debilitating periods since I was 13 years old, and during that time, I have become hyper-aware of where products are available and how bad the stigma around periods is.  

My periods can really limit what I am able to do, and I never know how I’m going to feel day to day. I can’t assume I’ll be able to make it to school or to social events. Organising a Menstrual Health Day at school gave me something positive to work towards and focus on.

I spent three weeks planning for the event. The first thing I did was create a period product and toilet key petition. This came about due to my own struggles with my periods, and how much the toilet key system and lack of products affected my feelings towards school. 

Barriers to accessing the toilets in school   

The toilet key system was supposed to be a temporary system, but it has been in place the whole four years I have been at my school.  You need to request permission from your class teacher to go to the toilet, but teachers often deny this. If you are allowed to leave class, you must go to your head of the department and ask for the toilet key, as all toilets are locked during class times. Most of the time, the key is broken, lost or stolen, so you have to walk around the school trying to find a key.  

If you have a medical condition, you can have a toilet pass and use a separate toilet, but most of the time it is vandalised, or there is a queue. This toilet key system disproportionately affects girls, particularly those on their periods. I petitioned to review this system – with the suggestion to remove it or create a toilet system that would work better.  

Through doing this petition, I realised the different attitudes teachers had towards periods and access to toilets. Some teachers were really on board, even giving me their ideas and observations. However, other teachers said they didn’t even think period products should be in the toilets due to the risk of vandalism.  

Raising awareness of periods 

Through talking to a few different teachers, I got an idea about who would be supportive of my plans to organise a Menstrual Health Day. I started coming up with a few ideas and making things for the day. 

I made around 30 bracelets with help from my mum, and baked for the bake sale to help raise money for the Menstrual Health Project. and get girls to visit the stall. My mum also organised for us to collect period products from the local council. I did some research and created trivia sheets about period awareness to use during the day. I asked the owner at my local sweetie shop about donating sweets so we could raise money with a guess the number of sweets game.  I also created a PowerPoint to be shown in all classes at the start of the day explaining what Menstrual Health Day is, and why it is so important. 

On the day itself, a couple of friends and I spent the morning setting the display up. At break time, we had a stall with free period products such as period pants, menstrual cups and tampons. We also had handmade period themed affirmation bracelets, a period trivia, and a bake sale. Everything on the stall was donation based, apart from the free period products, which gave girls the opportunity to try out reusable products. 

Lots of girls and female teachers approached us to ask where to access products and shared their own personal stories and challenges with periods. There was a real sense of community and shared understanding between us all, which was great. 

At lunchtime, we had the period products available again and more of the bake sale cakes. We also had “guess the number of sweets” and “pin the pad on the pants” games. It was such a lovely atmosphere, and everyone liked playing the games, wearing bracelets and using face paint. It was very well received, which was exciting and better than I had expected!  

We encountered some challenges during the day; some boys were immature and said things like, “there’s more important things like cancer,” which was exactly the reason we hosted the Menstrual Health Day. We want to challenge the stigma and myths surrounding periods, and the idea that they are not as important and that painful periods are normal.  

What do we want to change in schools? 

At the end of the school day, I delivered a presentation to all of the teachers and explained our future plans and how they could help. 

These were some of our asks:   

• Reintroduce period products into all of the girls’ toilets  

• Re-evaluate our current toilet key system 

• Have at least two teachers per department hold a period product box in their classrooms 

• More PSE lessons focused on periods and women’s health 

• Have lessons educating the boys and explaining how important it is that they know about periods.  

Next year, I am hoping to have more time to plan and expand the event, such as having a guest speaker in to talk to girls about their cycles and incorporate teaching on periods into more classes, for example exploring nutritious foods to eat while on your period.   

Driving change for period awareness  

Having bad periods is really common, it’s just something no one talks about. I wanted to create a safe space where girls could feel comfortable to talk and ask questions or get advice. 

By the end of the day, we had raised around £130.75 for the Menstrual Health Project. Alongside the money raised, I hope the day leads to concrete change for menstruating people.  

It is so important that girls can come to school on their periods and don’t miss out on education because they don’t have products and or they have pain which isn’t being managed. Unfortunately, this does happen, and it needs to change.  

It is really hard having debilitating periods, but I want to try and utilise that as motivation to try and make things better for other girls. I think it is important that periods are openly spoken about so that we can make women and girls’ access to and experiences of healthcare better.