Free Sanitary Products at Home Park
From Saturday’s Sky Bet League One fixture against Lincoln City on Saturday, Argyle will provide female fans with free sanitary products around the stadium in an attempt to play our part in fighting period poverty.
Period poverty is the lack of access to sanitary products due to financial, cultural or lifestyle constraints, which can be caused by a wide range of life events, and has a significant impact on those with low incomes.
Period poverty has surged in the UK since the coronavirus crisis began, with many charities supplying almost six times as many menstrual products compared with before the pandemic started.
Almost 700 packs of menstrual products were sent to NHS workers in March and April of 2020 because they were working such long hours that they could not get to shops to buy period products. When they did manage to shop, they often found empty shelves as, along with toilet rolls and pasta, people were stockpiling pads and tampons.
“As we continue to navigate this pandemic, we are seeing people struggle with financial hardship and everyone is feeling the cumulative stress of learning to live with Covid, and periods continue to happen every month,” says Siobhan Robbie-James, Supporter Relations Manager at the club.
“If people don’t have the products they need, they’re forced to use alternatives and some people have no choice but to use nothing at all. Not being able to access period products is incredibly stressful – it can lead to low self-esteem and panic. It also stops people from leaving home to go to work, school or social occasions such as the football – and we are striving at Argyle to make Home Park as inclusive a venue as possible.”
The decision to offer free sanitary products at the stadium follows in the footsteps of a number of initiatives to make Argyle as inclusive as possible. Ahead of the 21/22 season, the club strengthened its links with our representative women’s team, Argyle Women, providing extra funding and support to remove barriers to participation, while also partnering with Her Game Too, a campaign initiated to change outdated views surrounding women in football.
"Often young fans come to games with male friends and relatives, and it may be difficult for them to say, 'Can I have £2 for the machine?' We hope that this will erase any worry and people can just come and experience the joy of football with no other worries.”
The free sanitary items will be made available in all female and accessible toilets from Saturday.
For more information on period poverty visit: https://periodpoverty.uk
If you require any more information from our team, please contact: supporters@pafc.co.uk
