Clara Amfo was recently on a 'long, long train journey' when she realised her period had come. 'I was coming back from a job in Leeds or Manchester, and I didn't have any products. If there were free period products available on that train, I would have been all right. Instead I had to leak, then run through the station to get myself home and sort myself out,' she tells Women's Health.
Being caught short without a pad or a tampon is an experience shared by everyone who menstruates. Luckily for Amfo, on that awkward day on the train, she went home to a bathroom stocked with the essentials. Not everyone else is lucky enough to do that.
Shocking new research by Aldi found that two in five people who menstruate are unable to afford period products, with 30% having to choose between buying them and paying for other everyday essentials, such as food and clothing, or household bills.
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Fighting period poverty
As an ambassador for Bloody Good Period, the charity that fights period poverty and supports menstrual eduction, Amfo wants to change those stats. 'I know that I've got what I need to protect myself and I know there's lots of people that don't have that,' she says. 'I see talking about that as part of my responsibility of having the job or platform that I do.
'I dread to think what it's like for a 13 year old girl in high school to be caught out – we know school is like the Hunger Games – or a mum who is working really hard but still forced to decide between eating and buying pads.
'I think the pandemic forced us to realise that many people are just one paycheck away from being homeless. You could see someone in a fancy suit and trainers, that put-together person you see every morning on your commute to work, and not know that she's using loo roll in her pants for her period.'
Yet, conversations around the cost of living crisis still focus on the horrifying portion of working people who aren't able to afford daily essentials, like food and transport, very rarely mentioning period poverty. Why?
'There's still so much societal shame attached to periods,' sighs Amfo. 'And also, I think generally speaking, it's basic immaturity. Like, a womb sheds its lining every month. Oh well. When you got a cold, snot comes out. We even we make jokes about having had a dodgy takeaway and getting the shits. A period is no different. It's so normal. We need to get over ourselves. And when I say we, I'm mostly speaking about men, to be honest.'
Aldi's period policy
She's supporting Aldi's new move to put free period products in every customer toilet, as well as donate 1 million products to Blood Good Period. 'I'm so happy that Aldi are doing this, and I really hope that other supermarkets follow suit,' she says. 'We need more and more people to keep talking about this, and for policy to change.'
Free period products, for her, are also not just about affordability. 'Menstrual care is right, not a privilege,' she says.
That train journey was not the only time she's been left without access. When Amfo took to the cover of Women's Health in 2024, she spoke about dealing with fibroids, non-cancerous growths that develop in the womb.
'One of the symptoms of having them was really, really heavy periods. There were definitely times where I got caught short because a I ran out of products, or what I had wasn't right for my flow, so I'd be stranded in the middle of the road or about to go live on TV,' she says.
Having period products readily available helps everyone, from those who can't afford them to those too embarassed to buy them and anyone unprepared for their flow. Amfo points to Scotland, where a law guarantees free period products for anyone who needs them and to have them available in all schools, colleges and public buildings. 'It is amazing,' says Amfo, of her experiences whenever she's visited. 'Why can't [England] catch up?'
To do that, she has ideas. 'I would like to see serious conversations in Parliament about free period products. I'd like a group of us to go there and ask them to please provide a logical reason as to why we have to pay for this stuff. Why should we have to pay extra because our wombs are shedding? When you even say it out loud, where's the logic?
'If we want society to function, you can not dismiss the needs of half the population. If a tampon or pad isn't available, it's going to mess with your day. Help people who just want to get on with their day. It's really that simple.'
Free period products will be available in Aldi customer toilets from today.
