Residents sign petition calling for homeless women to have free tampons

Yorkshire residents have been signing a petition calling on parliament to give homeless shelters a yearly allowance to buy sanitary care.

Image: TheHomelessPeriod/YouTube.

#TheHomelessPeriod petition began a week ago on Change.org and has since gathered over 7,000 signatures.

The campaign group said: “For homeless women, it really is that dreaded time of the month. With limited or no access to sanitary products, they’re often forced to go without.

“We want the government to give homeless shelters an allowance to buy sanitary care, the same way they do for condoms.”

The campaign has been promoting the hashtag #TheHomelessPeriod and has also made a film outlining the problems faced by homeless women.

Local residents have also left comments on the petition.

Georgia Duffy from Leeds wrote: “Sanitary products should be available and free for all”.

Sandra Williamson from Huddersfield said sanitary care is a “basic human right” while Tara Dowling-Hussey from Leeds said it “must be horrible humiliating to beg for tampons or pads.”

Parliament has dissolved ahead of next month’s general election and no government is in place to take the petition to, but campaigners have called on politicians to back the campaign.