Periods Should End Sentences Not School Weeks: Learning More About Period Poverty In Jamaica
Published 08/08/2023 in Scholar Travel Stipend
Written
by Ramani Wilson |
08/08/2023
As a summer intern for Congresswoman Stacey Plaskett, Representative of the U.S. Virgin Islands, a few weeks ago I was honored to accompany her in a meeting with the U.S. Ambassador to Jamaica Nickolas Perry, alongside Congresswomen Maxine Waters and Yvette Clarke.
In the meeting, Ambassador Perry discussed Plan Secure Jamaica, “a comprehensive and holistic approach to tackling crime and ensuring a safe and secure” country. While this plan undoubtedly has great potential to support Jamaica in adequately addressing widespread challenges within both the criminal justice and health systems, there are still ongoing efforts to improve gaps in the plan’s legislative framework.
While hearing the plan’s 10 strategic subject areas: violence and crime, gangs and organized violence, public order, community safety, justice, crisis response and resilience, corruption, territorial integrity, cyber defense, critical infrastructure protection, and economic and environmental security – I couldn’t help but think about a pervasive issue the country continuously fails to address: gender.
Just a week before the meeting I had traveled through Jamaica visiting friends and family, and volunteered in Kingston where I returned to learn more about issues women face across the island. Four years ago I made my first visit to Mary’s Child, a residential facility for first-time teenage mothers and their children in Kingston that are generally referred to the institution by schools, social workers, law enforcement, or health authorities. Seen as an essential approach to providing a means of independence and employability once they leave the home, each mother is exposed to a range of daily opportunities to advance their spiritual, educational, and personal development.
As I had mainly conducted a few workshops with the girls on creating healthy boundaries with one another and babysat their children that summer, this year I wanted to learn more about their educational needs on the ground. The support of the Milken Scholars Travel Stipend helped lead me to visit the Women’s Centre of Jamaica Foundation’s Programme for Adolescent Mothers (PAM). Serving around 48% of adolescent mothers in Jamaica, PAM serves as the Foundation’s core non-residential program that provides academic instruction, group and individual counseling, and vocational training for roughly 1,250 girls annually – many of whom are also enrolled at Mary’s Child.
Learning that much of the counseling the program provides addresses self-esteem and reproductive health issues, I reached out to Shantay Bailey, founder of the Girls Do Good Foundation, to learn more about the implications of period poverty on girls' education in Jamaica. Girls Do Good is a non-profit organization that distributes feminine hygiene products to girls in need across Jamaica, currently serving and educating communities inclusive of but not limited to those in Kingston, Ocho Rios, Montego Bay, and Westmoreland.
Shantay’s founding of such an impactful initiative while attending medical school was incredibly inspiring, and her insight on the issue was especially valuable as she was able to squeeze me into her busy schedule as a new doctor.
Period poverty, the lack of one’s access to menstrual products and hygiene facilities, is a public health crisis that currently affects nearly 500 million women and girls worldwide. Such deprivation has been documented to take a significant toll on women and girls’ physical and mental health, education, and income-earning capability. With an estimated 23 percent of people who lived below Jamaica’s poverty line in 2020, and 44 percent of girls who went without sanitary supplies for months at a time last year, period poverty remains a harsh reality for many Jamaican women and girls.
In the meeting, Ambassador Perry discussed Plan Secure Jamaica, “a comprehensive and holistic approach to tackling crime and ensuring a safe and secure” country. While this plan undoubtedly has great potential to support Jamaica in adequately addressing widespread challenges within both the criminal justice and health systems, there are still ongoing efforts to improve gaps in the plan’s legislative framework.
While hearing the plan’s 10 strategic subject areas: violence and crime, gangs and organized violence, public order, community safety, justice, crisis response and resilience, corruption, territorial integrity, cyber defense, critical infrastructure protection, and economic and environmental security – I couldn’t help but think about a pervasive issue the country continuously fails to address: gender.
Just a week before the meeting I had traveled through Jamaica visiting friends and family, and volunteered in Kingston where I returned to learn more about issues women face across the island. Four years ago I made my first visit to Mary’s Child, a residential facility for first-time teenage mothers and their children in Kingston that are generally referred to the institution by schools, social workers, law enforcement, or health authorities. Seen as an essential approach to providing a means of independence and employability once they leave the home, each mother is exposed to a range of daily opportunities to advance their spiritual, educational, and personal development.
As I had mainly conducted a few workshops with the girls on creating healthy boundaries with one another and babysat their children that summer, this year I wanted to learn more about their educational needs on the ground. The support of the Milken Scholars Travel Stipend helped lead me to visit the Women’s Centre of Jamaica Foundation’s Programme for Adolescent Mothers (PAM). Serving around 48% of adolescent mothers in Jamaica, PAM serves as the Foundation’s core non-residential program that provides academic instruction, group and individual counseling, and vocational training for roughly 1,250 girls annually – many of whom are also enrolled at Mary’s Child.
Learning that much of the counseling the program provides addresses self-esteem and reproductive health issues, I reached out to Shantay Bailey, founder of the Girls Do Good Foundation, to learn more about the implications of period poverty on girls' education in Jamaica. Girls Do Good is a non-profit organization that distributes feminine hygiene products to girls in need across Jamaica, currently serving and educating communities inclusive of but not limited to those in Kingston, Ocho Rios, Montego Bay, and Westmoreland.
Shantay’s founding of such an impactful initiative while attending medical school was incredibly inspiring, and her insight on the issue was especially valuable as she was able to squeeze me into her busy schedule as a new doctor.
Period poverty, the lack of one’s access to menstrual products and hygiene facilities, is a public health crisis that currently affects nearly 500 million women and girls worldwide. Such deprivation has been documented to take a significant toll on women and girls’ physical and mental health, education, and income-earning capability. With an estimated 23 percent of people who lived below Jamaica’s poverty line in 2020, and 44 percent of girls who went without sanitary supplies for months at a time last year, period poverty remains a harsh reality for many Jamaican women and girls.
While Jamaica has made good progress in advancing gender equality, this year’s Jamaica Gender Assessment Report found that like high adolescent pregnancy rates, women’s sexual and reproductive health remains a concern. Much of the work is done by local civil society organizations like Girls Do Good and Shelly-Ann Week’s HerFlow Foundation, Jamaica’s foremost authority working to mitigate period poverty – so far donating over 6 million period products to date.
After speaking with Shantay on global Menstrual Hygiene Day, I called the Women’s Centre of Jamaica Foundation and asked if donating feminine hygiene products to the educational facility would be helpful. Ms. Gay Williams, who retired after 20 years of contribution but still helps manage the Centre, invited me to come in to deliver the donations and speak with her the following day. Spending nearly $250 USD on only a few boxes of menstrual pads, tampons, baby wipes, toothbrushes, and deodorants, it became clear to me how inaccessible essential hygiene products are to the average Jamaican that makes only $20 USD per day.
It was heartwarming to hear the passion Ms. Williams has for the young women who matriculate at the Centre, and it felt great to know that my donation would support a few of them with hygiene management that month. As I was leaving she expressed that I was always welcome to stop by and that she’d like me to propose a few workshops to conduct with the girls the next time I’m in town.
Whenever I walk into a restroom in my Congressional office building and dispense a few menstrual pads or tampons for free, I am reminded of the young mothers I met in Kingston. Lower self-esteem stemming from extensive barriers to menstruation hygiene management should be the least of their concerns as they navigate the complexities of both adolescent girlhood and motherhood. Olivia “Babsy” Grange, Jamaica’s Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport (MCGES) has been instrumental in constructing new outreach centers for women in St. Elizabeth and Manchester, strengthening local legislation to combat domestic violence and sexual harassment, and advancing women’s economic equality.
Building upon the efforts of Ms. Grange and MCGES, Plan Secure Jamaica should consider addressing gender as a separate strategic subject area. Jamaica’s safety and security largely depend on the well-being of its women and girls, who aside from experiencing high levels of period poverty live in a country with the second-highest rate of femicide in the world.
It is my hope that my service towards mitigating period poverty and barriers to traditional education for adolescent mothers in Jamaica has helped fulfill some of the missions of the Milken Institute, Milken Family Foundation, and Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream. The integration of gender in response to some of our most critical global issues as they relate to access to financial capital, education, public health, and security is an ongoing effort, and I thank the Milken Scholars Travel Stipend for helping me make a small but meaningful contribution abroad.
