An open letter signed by over 1,400 people calling for “the Collegiate University [to] take action to ensure fair access to menstrual products for all Cambridge students”, was published yesterday (18/2).

The open letter was written by the Cambridge Period Project, which campaigns to reduce period poverty in Cambridge. The letter is addressed to the Vice-Chancellor of the University and all 31 college masters.

The letter outlined the effects that period poverty has on three sectors of life: physical health, mental health, and life opportunities. Therefore, they claimed, if the University “wishes to be truly providing barrier-free access to education then they must ensure that students are also able to afford basic necessities such as menstrual products.”

The open letter outlines a survey which found out of 630 students who menstruate, 51.6 percent find purchasing period products to be a financial burden, while 12.5 percent experience this persistently.

The campaign acknowledges that 85% of colleges provide menstrual products to their students for free, though due to “poor implementation” 55.1 percent cannot access them.

Lydia Seed, a fifth-year medic who started the Cambridge Period Project in January 2021, told Varsity that the “exclusion of menstrual products from basic bathroom provisions is discriminatory and unjustifiable.”