Box containing maandverband (menstrual pad)

Box containing maandverband (menstrual pad), "Specially Packed For KML", KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, 1996-1997

Before the advent of disposable menstrual products, pads needed to be washed and dried before reuse. Unless menstruators had access to multiple replacements (and some sort of container for storing the used ones) this meant staying close to home on your period.

This individually packaged disposable pad, produced for by KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, reveals a very different picture by the 1980s.

Yet being able to go out and about with daily life while menstruating is not something that everybody has the privilege of today. Period poverty forces millions to stay at home, missing school and work, as they do not have adequate access to products to manage their periods.