Period and anxieties keeping women off sporting fields
Most Australian girls and women opt out of playing sport when they have their period, says research prompting calls for free sanitary products at sporting facilities.
Almost one in seven skipped sport due to their period, according to a Victoria University survey of 300 people undertaken with women's charity Share the Dignity.
Some 90 per cent worried about leaking and more than 70 per cent were anxious about their period when playing sport, it found.
The research showed providing free period products at sport facilities could "remove a barrier to play sport and help drive membership", study lead Clare Hanlon said.
"This is not a big ask but the impact is huge. A range of options exist on how products could be provided. We must make sport safe and accessible, so everyone is given a fair go to be active and engaged," Professor Hanlon said in a statement on Tuesday.
"It's a small cost with a big return, not only keeping girls in sport but reducing the need to replace those who drop out."
She said 87 per cent of respondents agreed sport facility policies "need to recognise menstrual health as a fundamental right where free period products are provided".
Some sport clubs provide period products but it is not mandatory in Australia, where 32 per cent of women and girls aged over 15 play sport.
Two-thirds of women struggle to afford basic menstruation products while half miss work because of their periods, found a survey of more than 150,000 Australian women by Share the Dignity in 2024.
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