Sally McMahon, California Federation of Business and Professional Women’s (CFBPW) Clubs’ Bill Screening Committee and President of Sierra Mar BPW District, will give talk about “Period Poverty” and Legislation that CFBPW has supported at the East Los Angeles-Montebello Business and Professional Women meeting Tuesday, September 26, 2023 in the Library Room, Marie Callender’s Restaurant, 220 S. Atlantic Blvd., Monterey Park (Networking starts at 4:30 p.m. with dinner to be ordered by 5:00 p.m.). Attendees will be able to order off the menu. Attendees are being asked to bring period products which will be donated to an area non-profit serving unhoused women. The program and dinner is open to all interested people. Call or E-mail Linda Wilson (626) 307-5650 or lindalwilson@juno.com to make a reservation or for questions.

Eleven million menstruators couldn’t afford period products in 2021. In 2022 22 states

still imposed an additional tax on period products, ranging from 4.7 percent to 10 percent (California does not charge sales tax on these products). The homeless women and those living in poverty are very much affected by this issue. Between 2018 and 2021 there was a 75 percent increase in the percentage of people who menstruate who say they used a substitute product (i.e. toilet paper, paper towels, socks, etc.) for a period product. Thirty-eight percent of people who menstruate have had to miss commitments in the last year – such as work, school or an appointment – due to a lack of access to period products. Twenty-three percent of Blacks and twenty-four percent of Latinas with strongly agree that they have struggled to afford period products in the last year. In the United States alone more than two in five people with periods say they have struggled to purchase period products due to a lack of income at some point in their lives. Between 2018 and 2021 that number increased by 35 percent.

Sierra Mar BPW District has decided that period poverty is one of its projects and a study issue for 2023-24. The National Federation of Business and Professional Women’s Clubs, inc. (NFBPWC) has a Period Poverty Committee studying what can be done to help women overcome this issue in the United States. Sally McMahon is a member of this Committee. Attendees at the meeting are encouraged to bring period products which will be distributed to local non-profits who help homeless people. A donation can also be made to purchase these products.

For more information contact Linda Wilson at (626) 307-5650 or E-mail to lindalwilson@juno.com.