NortonLifeLock Employees Fight Period Poverty

By Kimberly Bishop | Corporate Responsibility

The 2022 Women’s History Month theme is Providing Healing, Promoting Hope, a recognition of the thousands of ways that women of all cultures have provided both healing and hope throughout history.

Those that care for others often have little time to care for themselves. In partnership with NortonLifeLock’s women-focused Community (what we call Employee Resource Groups), WONDER (Women Outreach & Development Resources), I was excited to celebrate Women’s History Month with a volunteer event focused on making it easy for women to access menstrual hygiene products.

Many people are aware that period poverty impacts young women in under-resourced countries as they are often forced to miss school during their periods. What people don’t realize is that right here in the U.S., women experience period poverty too.

For those with multiple women in one household, period poverty data shows that costs can be up to $50 per month, an untenable amount for many. One in four teens miss school in the U.S. every month due to a lack of access to period products. As many as two-thirds of women in poverty did not have the resources to buy menstrual hygiene products at some point during the last year and one-fifth of these women struggle to afford monthly period supplies.

This affects girls and women’s movements and ambitions as they may not feel able to leave their home, go to work or school, or participate in society.

WONDER and NortonLifeLock Cares decided to be part of the solution. Today we hosted a virtual volunteer event—Period Power— which brought together 31 employee volunteers from around the globe. After hearing an educational keynote about the real need for period supplies in the U.S., we put together kits full of period supplies for women who are struggling to decide whether to buy food or tampons with their limited resources.

I was proud to see so many employees come together to learn more about period poverty in the U.S., raise awareness of this critical and overlooked issue, and provide active support to women in need.

If you’re inspired to help women easily access period products, check out period poverty organizations, such as Period Kits.org to donate or volunteer.

This blog is also our last post in a series of articles highlighting NortonLifeLock’s efforts to support and empower women all year long. Read more about our partnership with the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, how we’re pushing for equality through women-focused cybersecurity career training programs, how we support domestic violence survivors, and how we built an AquaTower with Planet Water Foundation, which can have a significant impact on women and girls.