We had Emma Chesworth, a campaigner tackling period poverty, for our March speaker meeting.
In the words of Emma, “Period poverty is a reality and forces many women to choose between buying food and buying sanitary products. That is a choice no woman should have to make.”
She mentioned how girls miss out on their education for not being able to afford sanitary protection. Moreover, she talked about the Free Period Campaign, a Tees Valley wide initiative calling for free sanitary products in all secondary schools and colleges as well as free for women who cannot afford them.
“To date Middlesbrough and Stockton Councils have supported the campaign and Public Health are also on board. We are currently trialling free sanitary products in three community hubs and they have been very well received“, said Emma.
Following to Emma’s talk, SIM members, including, Pam Cooper, Gill DeCosemo, Geraldine Nuttall, Asiya Dawood, Jean Slater, President Pauline Reed and Uzma Kazmi, delivered a presentation, titled Women Inspiring Women, talking about how they had made/are making changes to women’s lives. The whole idea of the presentation was to know how Soroptimist International Middlesbrough’s (SIM) members contribute to the society (from local to global) with or without wearing a Soroptimist hat on and find ways to contribute to and/or support fellow Soroptimists.
