Period Equality in Sports

This International Menstrual Hygiene Day Freda is proud to announce another important collaboration that promotes period equality in sports.

Earlier this year we proudly announced our Freda and FabLittleBag collaboration to provide cricket clubs across England and Wales with sustainable period care at all its facilities as part of their ambitious drive to support the growing number of women and girls in the sport.

 Now, on the weekend of International Menstrual Hygiene Day, we are excited to share news that Freda is providing period kit bags for the players and coaches of London-based grassroots football charity, Bloomsbury Football.

 We are particularly pleased to be part of this initiative as it encompasses an essential educational component, including summer workshops featuring Olympic swimmer Hannah Miley designed to teach players how to exercise safely around their periods. 

 Normalising the conversation around period care and period health has been a key tenant of Freda’s business plan since its conception. In addition to championing sustainability and working with charities to provide period care for unserved demographics, we frequently participate in educational programs and support young menstruaters through our Freda Teen site.

 Freda has always held that a critical force in combating period poverty and inequality is education, which is why working with sports initiatives is so important to us. Sports teaches valuable life skills and helps build stronger communities; however, we also know that many girls drop out of sports when they reach puberty and even professional athletes experience period shame.

 A report published by the ECB in 2015, which we highlighted in a previous blog post, reported that 55% of female athletes felt periods negatively impacted their training and performance, yet only 22% of them sought medical help for their symptoms due to embarrassment. There are many multifaceted reasons for women to avoid participating in sports, from social norms to economic barriers, but a natural menstrual cycle should not be one of them.

 On this International Day of Menstrual Health, we all feel genuinely privileged to be part of a multi-institutional drive that matches Freda’s ambition to present period care as essential care. By providing Freda’s products in traditionally nonfemale spaces, industry pioneers such as Welsh Cricket and Bloomsbury Football bravely address gender imbalance in sports, show that they care for the mental and physical well-being of all athletes, and do so without losing sight of the fundamental ethical imperative to protect the environment.