The Bulls Wāhine rugby team is receiving free period products as part of a women in sports programme run by The Period Place, partnered with Woolworths.
The Bulls Wāhine rugby team is receiving free period products as part of a women in sports programme run by The Period Place, partnered with Woolworths.
A new period equity programme has sparked conversations around women’s health for the Bulls Wāhine rugby team.
“It’s far more than I suppose just having a period and continuing on with life,” Bulls Wāhine player Sinead Barrell said.
“There’s now an opportunity to discuss the hard stuff”.
The programme ispart of a nationwide appeal by The Period Place and Woolworths New Zealand following the end of a year-long Sport NZ pilot. The Period Place – a nationwide charity that advocates for period equity – said there had since been an influx of inquiries requesting continued support.
Sport NZ provided free menstrual products to 48 grassroots women’s sports teams across New Zealand, including the Bulls Wāhine, with the aim of researching period equity in Kiwi sport. Clubs involved in the pilot reported increased confidence among players, open conversations around menstruation and caused a “positive shift in club culture”.
The Period Place said the interest in continued support for Kiwi women’s sports teams highlighted the urgency of the issue.
“When women don’t have to choose between buying period products and other essentials, and when they know their sports club has their back, they can focus entirely on their performance and enjoyment of the game,” The Period Place chairwoman Sharn Cassady (Ngāpuhi, Te Whānau-ā-Apanui) said.
The Period Place chairwoman Sharn Cassady says sport should be accessible to everyone.
The new initiative by The Period Place and Woolworths is providing the Bulls Wāhine team with period products for four weeks until September 7. During this time, Woolworths will donate 5 cents for every period product sold while suppliers – U by Kotex, Libra, Tom, Stayfree, Carefree, Tampax, Oi Organics, Vagisil, Femfresh and Woolworths brand Evamay – are donating one product for every product sold.
“Sport should be accessible to everyone, regardless of their menstrual cycle or financial circumstances,” Cassady said.
The Period Place was supporting grassroots sports clubs because these teams were where many women first became involved in organised sports within their community, and they were less likely to have the funds to support players in this way, “even though it’s essential for participation and performance”, she said.
Barrell, whose grandfather Bob Barrell is a Whanganui Rugby Football Union centurion, said the biggest impacts the programme had on her team were lightening the financial strain of buying period products and bringing conversations around women’s health to the forefront.
Starting conversations through period education helped to bring other related issues many women faced in silence and stigma into the light, Barrell said.
This was especially relevant as many of the women on the team were also mothers.
“To be able to have those conversations and just normalise that [is massive],” Barrell said.
The Period Place hoped to expand its support for women in sport to more teams, while continuing to empower women across all parts of their lives.
“Period poverty is a barrier to full participation in society and, whether that’s on the rugby field, in the workplace, or in the classroom, we’re working to remove those barriers wherever we can,” Cassady said.
