Alt.Cardiff Magazine: The Period Poverty Issue

alt. Cardiff

Wales’ period crisis?

If it’s offbeat and in Cardiff, then it’s in here

Inclusive art exhibition in the capital

Anew art exhibition is giving a platform to disabled artists to showcase their work in g39 gallery near City Road until the end of the month.

The exhibition, which features 26 pieces of work by disabled Welsh-based artists, is part of the Disability Arts Cymru (DAC) arts prize exhibition, as DAC celebrates its 40th birthday. The artwork featured has been chosen from over 100 entries, inspired by the theme Aildanio, which translates to ‘reignite’ in English.

Funded by Arts Council Wales, Aildanio has started its tour in Cardiff at g39 on Oxford Street, where it will remain until 17 December, before travelling around Wales in the new year. Owain Gwilym, executive director

of DAC, said, “It’s essential to showcase work by disabled artists, not only to give us new perspectives on the lived experiences of disabled people, but also to showcase cutting edge and provoking art that could otherwise be left unseen as a result of societal barriers.”

The exhibition will incorporate accessibility measures such as British Sign Language (BSL) and audio descriptions in the event and feature a range of styles including knitted sculptures, photography, linocut prints, and much more.

Gaia Redgrave, a neurodiverse artist, who’s work Shizen features in the exhibition, added that although the accessibility measures put in place by the exhibition are welcomed, “Accessibility is not just about wheels; it is about lighting, sound, height, captioning, BSL,

Female running group goes from 30 to 2,000 members in 3 years

All-female running group She Runs: Cardiff is celebrating its third anniversary.

The running group, which was founded by around 30 women, set out to be a place for women to come together and exercise without competitive pressure.

One of the founders Cathryn Scott said: “I think we do provide that safe way of being able to run in the evenings.”

She added that some members who are concerned about running at night on their own, find comfort in the larger group runs.

The club recently celebrated with a large run around Roath lake, complete with a look at some of the yarn bombs created by members.

Touching on the issue of female safety, Scott added: “The onus shouldn’t be on women to have to limit their behaviour.”

sensory and content warnings and accessibility for those who are not able to travel to the space”.

She added: “I look forward to the day where I can simply be an artist and my disability is irrelevant.”

However, Redgrave stressed the importance of events like these being vital to showcase the voices and talent of disabled artists, due to common barriers which might prohibit or prevent them from showcasing their work.

New safe storage place for bikes in the city centre

New social enterprise, the Bike Lock, is encouraging more people to actively travel into Cardiff by opting for public transport or bikes to get to work.

Set up by Tom Overton, a keen cyclist, the business is the first of its kind in Cardiff and includes safe storage facilities for up to 50 bikes, alongside highspec washroom facilities, wifi, meeting rooms, and a cafe.

As a social enterprise, the project has been funded 50% by Overton, with the other half being funded by the Community Lottery Fund who have donated £10,000, as well as Welsh development agency Cwmpas Cymru, and the Welsh government’s active travel grant scheme.

Reflecting on the business’ funding Overton added, “I simply wouldn’t have been able to afford the infrastructure without the help.”

A new art exhibition features over 20 pieces from disabled Welsh-based artists

Words: Maggie Gannon Image: Owain Gwilym

“I look forward to the day where I can simply be an artist and my disability is irrelevant.”

Having experimented with her own nails during lockdown, 22-year-old Zoe Windatt has taken the plunge to set up her own nail studio in October, during what she describes as “a pretty dodgy time,” given the current cost-of-living crisis.

The recent forensic linguistics graduate started opening her services to clients in her third year of university, and now having just completed an MA in forensic linguistics, she’s taken the decision to go solo full-time.

Originally from Clevedon, Zoe moved to Cardiff for university and started out by doing her friends’ nails after lockdown as a break from her studies and a way to relax. After a year of

working from her city centre flat, she made the decision to pursue a career path entirely different from her education and has set up her own studio on Windsor Place. After balancing part-time work and her studies, Zoe managed to secure the funds needed for her new studio independently and hopes that a regular clientele base will keep her new studio afloat. On her decision to open, given the current economic climate Zoe added, “If I didn’t do it now, I was never going to do it. I just have to, regardless of the climate, put my all into it.”

really important to me,” she says as she passionately describes her dissertation’s focus on rape reporting in newspaper coverage. When discussing her future aims, Zoe explained her interest in wanting to work with a women’s charity in the city, adding, “I know to do a job that’s that important, I need to be able to give everything and I don’t think I am in the right headspace to do that.”

She made it clear that returning to

support women’s charities, in events that “make these women feel pampered the way they should.”

Nails are a luxury

Having only been set up for just over a month, Zoe remains in the opening stages of figuring out her schedule and her all-important price list.

“It’s been difficult to balance making things the right price so that I can actually live”, she says. Adding, “it’s a bit of a risky time to go solo.”

The cost-of-living crisis has certainly impacted businesses that focus on luxury services, particularly the beauty industry as people look to cut out non-essential spending.

Career change

Zoe’s original career goals began slightly differently and having loved her undergraduate degree in language and linguistics, she set out to take this further into her postgraduate degree, achieving a Master’s in forensic linguistics this September.

“Sexual health and sexual justice has always been something that’s

her original career path, even as a volunteer, is something she still desires to achieve. However, right now, after feeling drained following an intense year of education, she believes pursuing nails was the right decision.

Zoe aims in the future to be able to set up sessions for fellow nail technicians to come together to

This, however, is a job that Zoe clearly loves, adding, “It’s made me even more appreciative of the clients that come back every three to four weeks.”

She prides herself on making sure her clients come out of appointments with a smile on their face, now more than ever.

Her drive and infectious positivity come from finding a job in which she says she never feels as though she’s working.

“It’s been difficult to balance making things the right price so that I can actually live”

The recent graduate setting up her own nail studio during the cost-ofliving crisis

22-year-old Zoe Windatt explains why she felt now was the best time to go solo

Could Wales be on the verge of a period crisis?

As Senedd research indicates that the cost-of-living crisis is disproportionately affecting more women than men, Maggie Gannon investigates where the Welsh Government stands on eradicating period poverty in Wales.

Approximately over 3 million adults in the UK have been affected by hygiene poverty in the last year, according to the Hygiene Bank’s poverty report 2022, with the number only set to rise. The term hygiene poverty is used by the Hygiene Bank to describe when someone has gone without basic hygiene products or sanitary items like period products because they are unable to afford them. Making period products free and accessible to those that need them has become a big talking point in Wales. Grassroots campaigns and a Welsh MS have recently tried to introduce a new law to do just this.

The Hygiene Bank’s poverty report is the first national study to investigate the effect of hygiene poverty in the UK, with an added focus on how the current cost-of-living crisis is affecting those who are finding themselves on

What’s happening in Wales?

this, but that they do not currently see a need for the government to enshrine this in law.

In response to her recent debate in the Senedd, Fychan said she was “very disappointed by the Welsh Government’s response.” Adding that given the law in Scotland was legislated by a Labour MSP, makes the decision even more disappointing.

Taboo v Inflation

Molly Fenton, 20, the face of the ‘Love Your Period’ Campaign has worked closely with the Welsh government since 2019 to improve the supply of period products in schools, and encourage people to talk about periods and the reality of having them, in order to try and reduce the stigma that tends to be associated with the topic.

Fenton hoped that these positive conversations around periods were reducing the taboo around asking for products, but the severe increase in demand for products she has seen has meant that they “no longer have enough products to give out.”

A recent study by the Sunday Mirror found that “shrinkflation tactics” have resulted in packs of sanitary products getting smaller whilst their prices have risen. One case found each tampon in a box to be 50% more expensive than its previous price.

Fenton added that these price rises are ultimately resulting in less donations to her campaign, but more people needing the products: “it’s like an allaround panic.”

“Can you imagine the outcry if toilet paper wasn’t easily available in schools or workplaces?”

A spokeswoman for Cardiff People’s Assembly, a cost-of-living crisis campaign said, “Making period products free is an essential part of building a 21st century welfare state.”

This feeling of worry around the cost of period products rising has also been felt by Cardiff’s foodbanks. Emma Shepherd, project manager at Cardiff Foodbank, added: “We’ve definitely seen an increase in demand, as our supply was looking very low in the autumn.” The foodbank also accessed a period poverty grant from Cardiff Council to top up their supplies for the upcoming months.

Fenton is hopeful the Welsh government will follow that of Scotland, but the government and the local councils need pushing from all corners to commit to this.

Upcoming events to look out

Fenton was approached a few weeks ago by a girl who admitted to having to use her dirty sock at the end of a school day as her period product. She was unaware that free products were available in her school due to them not being easily available in the toilets and her parents could not buy her sanitary products.

The number households affected by hygiene poverty in the UK and in Wales is only set to rise, with a new period products law, incidents like these could be prevented.

The Welsh government are launching a new national campaign this year titled ‘Period Proud Wales’, which will aim to ‘eliminate period poverty by 2027’.

poverty debate

The Welsh government are increasing the requirement for local authorities to spend their funding on reusable and plastic free period products.

Cardiff People’s Assembly are launching a new grassroots campaign this year focused on tackling period poverty.

The Welsh government are currently

for in the period

“a girl who admitted to having to use her dirty sock at the end of a school day as her period product.”