Written by Grade 8 Students : Mariam Abdulhamidkhon, Abod AlAmeer and Rokayah Karim, R8A
At Featherston Drive Public School, the students of R8A have worked on a project to empower girls and to ensure every female has the right to live a normal life without needing to worry about their period. Our initiative is called “Project Period”.
It all started when Ms. Conley, the Geography and Literacy teacher of R8A, got free samples of toiletries for the boys and girls. In the girls package were pads; this sparked conversation. Ms.Conley showed a documentary titled, “Period. End of Sentence.” It created conversation within our class on how to reduce stigma surrounding periods and promote gender equality. We are invested in our project and how it reflects the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals,specifically goal number 5, gender equality and goal 10 reduced inequalities.
This documentary is about how some girls and women in India struggle to live a normal life while on their period. They cannot go to school, work, or do anything while on their period. Their community came together to create change and started making pads for women and girls that are easily accessible. This documentary and the samples inspired R8A to start this project within our own school community.
We looked at an article written about the Toronto District School Board and how they took action and supplied pads in every girls washroom. This inspired us to do the same. We first decided to come up with a solution. We sent emails, made pad stations in washrooms and gave presentations to other classes. Slowly our whole school came to a conclusion and understood why we are doing this. Girls come to school feeling confident about themselves and have easy access to pads. They will miss less days of school and not allow their periods to impact their learning or feel embarrassed about something that is normal.
This is just the beginning! We hope to exceed expectations and expand this project with an impact to teach people about the struggles of girls while promoting and educating on gender equality.
