Tesco creates collaborative platform to end menstrual poverty

By: Trademagazin Date: 2025. 03. 10. 11:21

Tesco announced the creation of a platform dedicated to eradicating menstrual poverty at the Equality Foundation’s annual Women’s Day conference. The initiative aims to use the power of collaboration to understand and explore the causes of the phenomenon and plans to take concrete steps to eliminate it by developing a 10-year action plan. According to the supermarket chain’s representative research last year, an average woman spends 4,200 forints per month on intimate hygiene products, and about every second respondent has faced the fact that they cannot afford to purchase the products in the required quality and/or quantity. Tesco has been committed to the cause for years and has been providing feminine hygiene products free of charge in its women’s restrooms for its employees since autumn 2023, and from summer 2024 all of its own-brand menstrual products will be available at a reduced price including VAT in its stores and online.

At the Equality Foundation’s “Your Voice is Deeper!” Women’s Day conference on March 7, Tesco announced that it is launching a platform that will use the power of collaboration to combat menstrual poverty. The company launched the unique initiative at the request of participating organizations that are also committed to the cause. The initiative aims to break down the stigma surrounding menstruation, raise social awareness on the topic, and ensure that everyone has access to essential menstrual products with the help of collaborating partners. In line with this, its goals include conducting national surveys on the topic and publishing the results, launching awareness campaigns to break down menstrual taboos, and creating a long-term sustainable product distribution system to provide regular care to those in need.

“Nearly 70 percent of our employees are women, and more than half of our repeat customers are women, as in our experience they are the main shoppers in most households. That is why we feel a special responsibility to support women. If we think that menstrual poverty is only a problem for those living in extreme poverty, then we could not be more wrong. At Tesco, we believe that menstruation is not a luxury: every girl and woman deserves the opportunity to menstruate with dignity. That is why we are initiating an alliance between the for-profit and non-profit sectors, so that together we can take even more effective and visible steps towards understanding and eliminating menstrual poverty,”

– said Nóra Hevesi, Head of Communications at Tesco-Global Áruházak Zrt.

Growing numbers, shrinking opportunities

At the event, Tesco shared the key findings of its 2024 representative research on menstrual poverty, which found that women spend an average of HUF 4,200 per month on intimate hygiene products, and 49 percent of them have experienced – or are currently experiencing – that they cannot afford to purchase menstrual products in the required quality and/or quantity. 40 percent of respondents therefore provide the necessary coverage for purchasing products by reducing other expenses, for example, by giving up clothing (46%), cosmetics (44%), leisure activities (43%) or services such as a hairdresser (43%).