Lots of girls around the globe are affected by period poverty. Some girls don't have access to menstrual products and because they don't want to bleed everywhere, they substitute. Just the idea that these girls would have to choose between going to school or using horrific alternatives such as toilet paper, newspapers and even old clothes and socks shocked me. To me, it seemed primitive. These girls are so afraid that they miss school for fear of embarrassment, and then have loads of schoolwork to catch up on. It's not fair. These girls are being seriously affected. Education is an important aspect of life and these girls are missing out on this because of something natural. These sanitary products are important, so why do some girls have to miss out on them? It is not fair. The big taboo against talking about it is hurting girls. By some estimates, five hundred million girls around the world can't attend school for about a week every month. Worried about the humiliation of bleeding onto their uniforms or chairs, often too embarrassed to tell parents or teachers, many girls are forced to stay home. It's hard to even do the math on all that lost time and learning-it would add up to years. As an 11-year-old girl myself, juggling puberty, parents and school, I can relate to both the stress and embarrassment. I only wanted to raise awareness and help those underprivileged girls. You can help them too by signing this petition to Mark Butler to get free menstrual products in schools all over Australia.