Share the Dignity’s second Bloody Big Survey is set to unpack if period poverty rates have risen since 2021.

In 2021, over 125,000 people responded to the Bloody Big Survey, the world’s biggest body of data on menstruation. Now three years later, Share the Dignity is launching its second Bloody Big Survey which begs the question, have period poverty rates risen?

The 2021 survey found some alarming statistics including how one in five people who menstruate have had to improvise on period products, but with inflation and the rising cost of living, Share the Dignity is concerned the 2024 Bloody Big Survey will find period poverty rates have skyrocketed.

The Foodbank Hunger Report in 2023 found 3.7 million Australian Households have run out of food in the last year primarily due to the cost-of-living crisis, and Share the Dignity has heard first-hand that when people struggle to make ends meet, pads and tampons are often the first thing to come off the shopping list.

The Bloody Big Survey asks questions about period pain, affordability, period shame, period poverty, and other experiences and is open from 1 March to 31 May with a goal of 200,000 respondents from women, girls and those who menstruate in Australia.

The first Bloody Big Survey has been imperative over the last three years to aid Share the Dignity in advocating for change in schools and nationwide.

The 2021 survey found 48 per cent of people have had to sometimes miss a class due to their period, and by highlighting the data to governing bodies, Share the Dignity has successfully advocated for every state/territory in Australia to provide free period products to students.

Share the Dignity has also campaigned for each state/territory to provide free period products to those in need with successful outcomes in the ACT where a bill was passed in June 2023, and in Victoria where an election promise was made in November 2022.

Share the Dignity founder and managing director, Rochelle Courtenay said she hoped to see the Bloody Big Survey even bigger this year to help further understand people’s experiences with periods across the country.

“The Bloody Big Survey has been a game-changer in our advocacy work, and I am so proud of what Share the Dignity has accomplished for the women, girls and people with a period we support since the research was released,” Ms Courtenay said.

“I am intrigued to see how attitudes and experiences around periods have shifted over the last three years and will be interested to further understand how a tough couple of years with the rising cost of living has affected people’s experiences with period poverty.

“It’s not uncommon to hear those struggling asking for help for food or other amenities, but you don’t often hear people doing it tough asking for period products, it’s an unspoken poverty, which is why collecting this data is so important to ensure those experiences are heard.

“I have aspirations to see our latest survey as the largest body of data in this space, so I encourage everyone to complete the survey and share it far and wide to enable us to garner an accurate picture of what having a period is like in Australia.”

For each survey completion up to 100,000, U By Kotex will be donating a packet of period products to Share the Dignity in order to help women, girls and those who menstruate have the dignity they deserve.

To have your voice heard in the Bloody Big Survey, head to Share the Dignity’s website here.

The 2024 Bloody Big Survey report will be released in time for Share the Dignity’s August Dignity Drive with the help of WhyHive and Swinburne University of Technology.

Those wanting to further support Share the Dignity can donate to Share the Dignity’s Dignity Drive this March. Period products can be donated at all Woolworths supermarkets nationwide and select businesses. Donations will be distributed to women, girls and those who menstruate who are experiencing/at risk of homelessness, domestic violence or poverty via Share the Dignity’s 3,000 charity partners.

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