One woman's mission to tackle period poverty this Christmas

LONDON -- Films can have a powerful impact on the way we view the world. And, for Kate Milner, the impact of watching one film made her want to take action. After watching I, Daniel Blake -- a 2016 Ken Loach film about the individual impact of social benefits cuts -- Milner decided to set up a project to tackle an issue she spotted in the film.

Milner -- who is a children's book illustrator from Leighton Buzzard in Bedfordshire, UK -- set up a social media campaign with the help of her 13-year-old son. The aim? To get people donating sanitary products to food banks for those who couldn't afford them.

Milner told Mashable that she was very moved by one of the characters in the film -- Katie, a single mum who finds her benefits cut off after she gets lost on the way to the job centre.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

"She asks the food bank for sanitary towels, but they don't have any to give her. Later in the movie she tries to steal them from a shop," Milner told Mashable.

Milner set up the campaign with women like Katie in mind, naming the project "A Bag for Katie". She says the film made her think about how hard it must be for women who aren't able to get hold of basic necessities.

"By the time I'd left the cinema I'd planned a campaign to try and get people to donate these basic products to food banks so someone like Katie need never go without again," Milner said.

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The campaign is asking people to donate sanitary products like tampons and sanitary towels, as well as other essential toiletries like soap and shampoo. More than 500,000 emergency food parcels were distributed to people in crisis between April and September 2017 by food banks run by the Trussell Trust -- almost five times more than the number of parcels distributed in 2012.

Making the issue mainstream

Milner wasn't the only one affected by Katie's story in the movie. Campaigners recently joined forces with MPs to encourage Procter and Gamble -- one of the UK's largest manufacturers of sanitary products -- to donate sanitary products to homeless shelters across the country. Since then, the retailer Boots has announced the pilot of an in-store donation point to allow customers to donate sanitary products which will be distributed at a local food bank. If the initial pilot goes well, the retailer will consider rolling out the initiative across the country.

According to the Guardian, the film's portrayal of the "humiliating consequences of period poverty" brought "menstrual inequality into the mainstream for the first time". Indeed, the film's portrayal of Katie prompted one journalist -- whose social benefits were cut -- to share their experience of period poverty. "I sat and watched with a heavy heart as she [Katie] stole sanitary products from the supermarket, remembering going without, or folding up a clean sock, or balling up toilet tissue on the heaviest days," wrote journalist and activist Jack Monroe.

Basic dignity for all women

Milner says that so far people have been "brilliant" and have set up collection bins in their offices and universities for their local food banks. "I feel that it is a necessary and basic dignity for all women to be able to keep themselves clean and hygienic. Periods are not great at the best of times but imagine not being able to get hold of these products. How could you go for a job interview? How could you talk to your child's teacher," Milner told Mashable. "It's Christmas and those of us who can should give to help those with less than we have," says Milner. People wanting to donate can use the food bank bins provided in supermarkets, or donate direct to the Trussell Trust -- a national network of food banks -- which is supporting the campaign. To find your nearest food bank, consult the Trussell Trust's online map. To get involved with A Bag for Katie, visit the campaign's Twitter account.