Bloody Period

Got your period? (We’ve got you covered)

FREE period provision now available on campus!

You can find period provision across all ground floor female and disabled toilets and in single cubicles across male toilets on all campuses.

Period poverty is not just a global issue - it’s happening right here, in our classrooms, lecture halls, and shared bathrooms. It affects students who are forced to choose between buying a box of tampons or a meal, who miss classes due to a lack of supplies, who carry the weight of stigma as well as their studies.

Period poverty is the lack of access to safe, affordable, and appropriate menstrual products. In the UK alone, over

36% of students have experienced:

• Anxiety over managing periods
• Stigma or embarrassment
• The impossible choice between food or period products

It is a systemic barrier to education and a source of shame - one that too often goes unspoken.

Since February 2024, the Students’ Union has worked to challenge period poverty on campus. And now, free period products are available across all UCLan campuses thanks to the University.

View the timeline below

These products are for anyone who needs them. No judgment. No questions. Just take what you need.

 

Hear from the student that started it all:

A path to positive change

“Want to make a change within the Students’ Union? Have a burning passion that you want to fight for? The Student’s Union has the potential to make the change you want to see!

I’m Harley, a third year Theatre and Performance student and the School President for Arts and Media. I felt that there was a need to make change when I saw students donating period products to a small basket in one of the bathrooms in my building to ensure that other students weren’t missing out on their education. Through the Cost-of-Living crisis, we have all found ourselves to be struggling financially and prices are going up more than ever. It is a known systemic issue that period poverty is one of the greatest barriers to education and I hated to see that students were having to fork out of their own pockets to help support other students. That is when I turned to the Students’ Union to make a change.

Step 1: Turn your Passion into Action!

If there is an issue that you are really passionate about and think you have an idea on how you can make this change, the Students’ Union can support you in making it happen. I spoke to other students and did some research to find out more, before submitting my idea to the Union for other students to have their say on.

 

Step 2: Rallying your Support!

I started to spread the word and get other students to share their views online as to whether they wanted to see my idea in action. Reach out to your course mates and friends, the more students that believe in what you’re trying to achieve the better. There’s power in numbers! I shared my idea with Students’ Council who decided to pass this idea as Union policy, meaning the Students’ Union now had an official stance on tackling period poverty.

 

Step 3: Bringing the idea to life!

 

Once my idea had passed through Council, I had multiple meet ups with Students’ Union staff and the President of the Students’ Union to help shape my idea and make things happen. This led to lots of work being done behind the scenes, the idea being brought before the Vice Chancellor’s Group at their Question Time event and great amounts of support from the University. I was so grateful that, a real change could be made around campus.

We’re about to see free period products in bathrooms across Preston, Burnley and Westlakes campuses in University building thanks to the power of student voice – students can make real change happen. It all starts with an idea, so make sure you tell somebody about it!”