New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Arden continues to show her supreme leadership skills, effectively making us wish she was our Prime Minister too. She has just initiated a plan for the government to provide sanitary products to be distributed in schools for free. The initiative is an effort to fight period poverty in the country.
Pads and tampons will be provided to students for free in schools in an effort to “support young people to continue learning”. What a woman.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Arden will provide schools with sanitary products in an effort to end period poverty and support learning.
Arden has touched on the fact that there are 95,000 girls in New Zealand who will skip school because they are unable to afford suitable sanitary products whilst on their period. Arden promises to change this and encourage those students to attend school comfortably.
Period poverty is an issue that affects people who do not have access to safe, hygienic and affordable sanitary products. Sometimes, people are known to prolong the use of the same pad or tampon which can lead to discomfort and infection. Studies have shown that this issue affects many wealthy countries as well as developing countries. A 2018 KidsCan survey concluded that one-third of New Zealand women have had to choose between buying food or pads and tampons. Many have instead used nappies, socks, rags and toilet paper.
Arden has stated, “Our plan to halve child poverty in 10 years is making a difference but there is more to do, and with families hit hard by the COVID-19 global pandemic it’s important to increase that support in the areas it can make an immediate difference.
“This is another important initiative that sits alongside our work to reduce child poverty and hardship including the $5.5 billion Families Package, free lunches in schools, cheaper visits to the doctors, stopping schools asking for donations, and lifting benefits.”
The NZ government is contributing $2.6 million towards the initiative.
We think it’s pretty fair to say that Jacinda Arden is an absolute queen.
