A Shoreditch venue is serving red velvet pancakes with tampon macaroons to raise awareness of period poverty.
One of the organisers has labelled the government’s new campaign pledge to end the problem globally by 2030 “ridiculous”.
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Three in ten women and girls in the UK have been unable to afford menstrual products at some point, according to research published last month.
Jenna Al Ansari, the Head of Arts and Programming at The Book Club, said she hoped the collaboration with period poverty charity Bloody Big Brunch would prompt conversation around the issue.
She said: “There’s been this campaign promise of 2030 but what we are saying is that is too far away. We need to be having these discussions now.
“There are 157,000 girls missing school in the UK every single month because they have no money to spend on period products. That’s an emergency as far as I’m concerned.”
Al Ansari said the idea to create period-themed pancakes came from combining Pancake Day and International Women’s Day, taking place on Tuesday and Friday respectively.
“Pancakes aren’t going to be the solution but they’re definitely a step in the right direction,” she said.
“The idea was to raise some money and awareness because it continues to be such an embarrassing subject for people. It was just a fun, playful twist on it and we’ve had an amazing response already.”
All the profits from sales of the pancakes are being given to Bloody Big Brunch, which hosts events across the country to help women gain access to period products they could not otherwise afford.
The launch event on Sunday was hosted by Amika George, a campaigner for free menstrual products for schoolgirls from low-income families, and attended by celebrity supporters including Made in Chelsea’s Jess Woodley.
On Monday, the Department for International Development announced the 2030 pledge along with £2 million in aid to help organisations working to tackle period poverty worldwide.
However, Pam Scobbie, the founder of Bloody Big Brunch, told the Metro that the government’s pledge felt “tokenistic”.
“It’s as if the government are thinking, we know period poverty is becoming a popular issue, it’s an easy, quick one for us to jump on,” she said. “There’s no real substantial, sustainable action that we can see so far.”
Al Ansari said the pancakes were “not about celebrating” but rather “about drawing attention to the fact that this is a chronic issue”.
“Breast cancer wasn’t talked about for decades because people were embarrassed to talk about their boobs,” she said. “Cervical cancer continues to be a massive issue because people are embarrassed to talk about HPV. This is another one of those issues.”
A survey carried out by Hey Girls, a social enterprise combatting period poverty, found that shame around menstruation remained widespread, with half of people describing periods as unpleasant or disgusting.
Lee Beattie from Bloody Big Brunch told The Hackney Post: “As a society, we need to send out the message that menstruation isn’t dirty and it certainly isn’t a luxury.
“That’s why the Bloody Big Brunch is important. It’s an accessible way to get involved and spread the word that period products are a basic essential – not nice-to-have.
“By using fun to highlight fundamental rights, we’re hoping that we can mobilise Westminster, who have been negligent on the issue of periods for far too long.”
The pancakes are available until Sunday 10 March at The Book Club, Shoreditch.
