Hannah Leckie, Zoe Brown and Mitya Lark are Year 13 Power and Resistance students who as their social action assessment chose Period Poverty. They wrote about their research:
“We chose Period Poverty for our social action project as we found it to be a prominent problem among young New Zealanders. We knew it would be possible to make a difference on a local scale so we aimed our sights at Waitohi, the Johnsonville Community Library.
We spoke to people such as Rebecca Mathews, a council member who represents the Wharangi/Onslow-western Ward. Her progressive ideology aligned with our goals in making period products more accessible for all and she supported our idea to help Waitohi. Not long after she helped us arrange a meeting where we met with Rachelle Samaniego and Leasa Fitzgerald-Leslie, who are head staff at Waitohi. We discussed the methods which could help the accessibility of products in a feasible way.
We found there are already a few places in Johnsonville that will provide various products on demand, something a lot of people don’t know! We decided our best course of action was to have a poster or sign that informs people where to go if they are ever short.”
Year 13 students Hannah Leckie, Zoe Brown, and Mitya Lark were focused on making period products available in public spaces to deal with issues of period poverty. Because of their research, this sign is now a permanent fixture at the Johnsonville Library: