As the number of students who are unable to work part-time due to corona illness and are in financial distress is increasing, it is difficult to buy a questionnaire on the Internet to find out how many people are having trouble in their daily lives, such as being unable to buy sanitary napkins. About 20% of the students have experience of doing this.

We also found that nearly 50% of people have problems with their lives, such as taking a break from school due to their period.

This survey shows the actual situation in Japan about the so-called "physiological poverty", in which a group of young people who are conducting educational activities on menstruation are beginning to attract attention as a social problem overseas while the number of students who are in financial distress due to the corona disaster is increasing. I tried to find out.



The questionnaire was conducted for high school students and above by calling for cooperation on SNS, and 671 responses were received in the two weeks until the 2nd of this month.



According to this, in the past year,


20% of the respondents answered that they had a hard time buying

sanitary napkins for financial reasons,


and 6% said that they had never been able to buy them. I was there.



37% said they had reduced the frequency of changing sanitary napkins, and


27% said they had used toilet paper instead.



Also, when asked what kind of problems they have in their lives due to their period in the past year,


49% of them have been absent from school, left early, or were late, and


31%

have missed

work such as part-time work. ,


6% of people have given up on job hunting.



In the free description column, in addition to voices complaining about the financial burden such as "If you make the price of sanitary napkins a little cheaper, you can use it for living expenses", "Nausea, loss of appetite, severe dullness, etc., due to menstruation. "I gave up on hot springs and travels many times," or "I'm worried that I'll get a job from April, but I'll have to take a day off from work when I'm having a hard time because of my severe menstrual pain." Some people complained that it would hinder their lives.

Research group "Numbers more serious than I imagined"

The questionnaire "# Minna no Physiology" is a group created mainly by university students when the consumption tax rate was raised to 10% two years ago, and the reduced tax rate is applied to sanitary napkins and free at school. We are engaged in activities to request distribution.



Ayumi Taniguchi, co-representative, commented on this result, "I have an honest impression that the numbers were more serious than I had imagined. Until now, there was an atmosphere of what was happening overseas, but the situation is almost the same. I found out that is happening in Japan as well. "



On top of that, "There are people who continue to use health-related things in unsanitary conditions to save money, and it is necessary to raise awareness of this problem in society and prepare the environment for people who are having trouble with menstruation. I think. "



In "# Everyone's Physiology", we will continue the questionnaire survey and investigate the actual situation in more detail.

Women who have trouble in their daily lives

A 19-year-old woman who attends a vocational school in Kanagawa Prefecture is said to be unable to buy sanitary napkins due to the corona sickness and financial reasons, which is affecting her studies.



A woman lives with her father, but since she was a child, she had a hard time getting along with her, and she earned most of her living expenses, such as food expenses, from her part-time job.



Before the spread of the new corona infection, I had a part-time job at a restaurant and earned about 130,000 yen a month, but due to the corona illness, I could hardly enter the shift, and the income from the part-time job last month was less than 20,000 yen. I was depressed.



I have used the scholarships needed to pay my school fees for my living expenses, but as the impact of the new corona continues for a long time, I have been trying hard to secure food expenses these days, so I have to put up with buying sanitary napkins. It is said that I no longer get it.



The woman said, "The part-time job is no longer a state of emergency and I have to eat first. When I thought that the school had to continue, I thought I had no money to spend on sanitary napkins."



It's hard for my dad to tell me, and I can't ask my school friends to share it every time, so I use cheap kitchen paper or thick cloth that I had at home instead, but on those days I don't stain my clothes with menstrual blood. I was worried that it became difficult to go out for a long time.



In addition, women have severe menstrual pain, so pain relief is indispensable, but it is said that there are days when they cannot afford to buy medicine and give up going to school or working part-time.



The woman said, "I can't buy sanitary napkins here to increase my salary (even when I'm on my period), and I feel like I'm in a negative loop. I get sick because I can't use sanitary napkins. I'm most scared of it. It's something that women spend tens of thousands of yen a year from the time they reach a certain age until menopause, so I'd like to have some support. "