WOW club interviews period equity activist and Aragon graduate Amanda Safi

By: Liza McGilpin, Catherine Wang, and Ruhi Mudoi

In 2021, it was estimated that globally, 500 million people suffered from period poverty because of the lack of access to menstrual products. An average box of tampons costs $7, while an average box of pads can cost between $10-$20. These items, which are taxed because they are not considered basic necessities, cause people who menstruate to face a financial burden just because of a natural process. The Huffington Post estimated that the total amount that a woman spends in her lifetime on menstrual hygiene products is $18,171.

On March 2, Women of the World club had the honor of interviewing Safi, a sophomore at UC Santa Cruz and Aragon graduate. She has played a crucial role in the fight against period poverty in California schools by pioneering the Period Equity Project. Moreover, she recently helped pass the AB 367 bill that will require free period products in all California public schools later this year.

Safi grew up in America, born to immigrant parents from Syria. She found that many of her values clashed with those of her parents’. One of the topics on which she and her parents disagreed was the stigma around menstrual hygiene.

“I grew up with them telling me, ‘You shouldn't talk about this in public, you have to keep this quiet, don't show periods around your brothers,’” Safi said. “‘Don’t even ask your dad to buy you period products.’ And I'm like, what? Why is this so normal?”

She felt inspired to join the movement and began research after viewing an Instagram post one day in the Aragon library. The post questioned the equity of making condoms free in high schools but not period products. This sparked Safi’s personal mission: to make free menstrual hygiene products accessible in California schools.

“After I saw that post, I marched over to the principal's office,” Safi said. “She wasn't there. I went to the vice principal's office, and I told her all about it. And she was in support of it. Then I started talking to other staff members on campus and they were all in support as well.”

"After I saw that post, I marched over to the principal's office"

Unfortunately, shortly after Safi met with the administration, the COVID-19 pandemic occurred.

“I was under the impression [that] we were going to get something going and we could potentially get free dispensers on campus,” Safi said. “And then lockdown happened. It was a little bit hard to keep in touch with everyone because the staff and board members were busy figuring out remote instruction. So I was kind of on my own at that point. I did some more digging into period poverty and decided to take action during the pandemic.”

What Safi wished to accomplish was no easy task. Through this time, she remained motivated, keeping in mind the reason that she wished to undertake this project in the first place.

“I personally relate to the experience of shame and embarrassment around periods and I don't want other people to go through what I went through,” Safi said. “My daily inspiration for this project is to keep fighting that and to keep talking about periods so that people who are uncomfortable become comfortable about it.”

"I personally relate to the experience of shame and embarrassment around periods and I don't want other people to go through what I went through"

In addition to her personal motivations, Safi kept in mind a couple of key figures that served as inspiration for her mission. Safi’s personal heroes helped empower her to continue the fight for free menstrual products in schools.

“I looked up to [Vice President Kamala Harris] because I saw her as this figure who is championing young women,” Safi said. “She was saying on the campaign trail [to] fight for yourself [and] stand up for what you believe in. And that energy definitely gave me … the confidence to want to take action, and get involved in the menstrual equity space.”

Nadia Okamoto, another one of Safi’s personal heroes, co-founded an organization called PERIOD. that Safi worked with often. The foundation is a youth-driven nonprofit dealing with reducing the stigma around periods, as well as fighting to end period poverty.

“If it weren't for [Okamoto], I wouldn't have gotten into periods at all,” Safi said. “I read her book during the pandemic … called Period Power: A Manifesto for the Menstrual Movement. And her book kind of catalyzed this whole fire inside of me, and gave me the confidence to want to take action.”

"[Okamoto's] book kind of catalyzed this whole fire inside of me, and gave me the confidence to want to take action"

This confidence would be necessary to face the pushback that came with advocating for free menstrual products. She was warned and discouraged to pursue her mission by a staff member who worked at Aragon.

“She had said it was a bad idea to put free period product dispensers in bathrooms because some school [she had worked at] had done it before,” Safi said. “They put free period product dispensers in bathrooms, and the students there had abused it, and they had clogged the toilets with the period products, and they had put pads on the mirrors and just took more than what they needed. At the time, I didn't really have the language to be able to combat that and argue that students still do that with toilet paper. They roll [toilet paper] into balls and throw them on the walls, [and] clog the toilets anyway. So it's more of a student maturity thing. But that's not going to stop us from putting toilet paper in bathrooms, right?”

Nonetheless, Safi has been grateful for the support she has received. Advocating for period equity in a progressive community with many resources such as San Mateo County has been helpful.

“I don't think I met a single person who [directly] opposed the project,” Safi said. “[There] was a group in … Idaho … asking for advice on [menstrual equity advocacy and] … they lived in a … red county [without] a lot of funding. I was incredibly fortunate that I ran into people who were super open-minded.”

"I don't think I met a single person who [directly] opposed the project. I was incredibly fortunate that I ran into people who were super open-minded"

Through organizations such as PERIOD. and the Samaritan House, Safi was able to take action. She found PERIOD. to be especially helpful, working with the organization and receiving its menstrual products that she was later able to donate to the Samaritan House.

“[During] the pandemic, [PERIOD.] shared a signup link and if you filled out the form, they would send you a whole case of free period products that you could donate to a local shelter or schools,” Safi said. “They sent like … 5000 products.”

Safi primarily uses social media as her platform for advocacy. In addition to her work with PERIOD, Safi started her own fundraiser via social media and raised over $700 to purchase period products to donate to the Samaritan House. Online petitions were an essential part of kickstarting the project, and her Instagram stories and posts document her achievements throughout the journey.

“I had created a petition [stating that] we should get free period products on school campuses,” Safi said. “I tried my best to share it as much as I could, and other people had reposted it and signed it. I got almost 200 signatures. Social media played a huge role in showing that there was support for this project. It [helped] with outreach and also spreading the word.”

Safi’s work quickly gained traction. The Period Equity Project is now implemented in three high schools in San Mateo County: San Mateo High School, Jefferson High School and South San Francisco High School. According to Safi, products have been placed in the girls and gender-neutral bathrooms. Recently, the project has also begun working on a pilot program at UC Santa Cruz.

“Moving forward, we hope to expand to other buildings on campus too,” Safi said. “We're going to be doing all bathrooms, men's, women's and all gender, which is super exciting. It's definitely going to send a very progressive message to the rest of California. AB 367 only requires colleges to do it in one bathroom on campus, one central location. So this is definitely going the extra mile.”

Safi’s efforts attracted the attention of various local media outlets, including the San Francisco Chronicle. Soon after these articles were published, a coalition of like-minded activists reached out to Safi for the push to pass AB 367, a California bill that would require public schools to stock bathrooms with free menstrual products. Safi joined their weekly meeting to discuss fixing the language of AB 367 in order to further capture their values and objectives. She later testified at a hearing for an educational committee where the bill passed unanimously. AB 367 was later passed unanimously by the State Assembly and later by the Senate.

“I was excited and relieved,” Safi said. “I wasn't too surprised that California passed it. I think that California has a history of being pretty progressive. We've done a similar bill in the past, and this one just takes it one step further. But honestly, I was just so relieved, because California is leading the way in the United States. It means that we're one step closer to period equity and to be a role model for a potential national bill.”

"California is leading the way in the United States. It means that we're one step closer to period equity and to be a role model for a potential national bill"

Looking forward, Safi hopes that she can extend AB 367 to include men’s bathrooms in order to make the bill more inclusive to non-binary and transgender students. Additionally, she wants to implement the bill in lower education schools as well as private and public colleges. She hopes that in the future, she can make these changes and get the bill to cover a UC system-wide policy.

Safi offered some final words for all types of activists beyond period equity.

“[Don’t] be afraid to talk to people who are in charge,” Safi said. “A lot of the time people who work in school districts want to listen to students, and they care about what you think. If you come to them with a lot of passion, and if you come to them with a lot of drive and a plan, they'll probably listen. Don't be afraid to stand up and take action and talk with people who can help make those decisions, because sometimes without them you can't make that big change that you're looking for.”

Aragon’s Women of the World club looks to carry on Safi’s legacy in the battle against menstrual inequity within the San Mateo community. In March, the club organized a successful schoolwide period product drive that garnered over 1,000 period products through donations from Aragon’s students and staff. The club hopes to expand as the year progresses, continuing to reach out to activists and experts in order to educate and aid the community.