The first U.S. event of its kind, National Period Day is spearheaded by Period, a youth-led nonprofit that hopes to raise awareness of periods. On this day, people in all 50 states are rallying to highlight an invisible problem — period poverty. Period poverty is a way to describe how access to sanitary products, toilets, handwashing facilities, waste management, and more hinder women and girls from succeeding. Period poverty is a way to describe how access to sanitary products, toilets, handwashing facilities, waste management, and more hinder women and girls from succeeding. Periods are still extremely stigmatized, according to Kate Cartagena, youth organizing program manager at Planned Parenthood Generation Action. “Because of this stigma, far too many people are currently experiencing period poverty or struggle to afford period products,” she explains. This is in part because 35 states in the U.S. levy a sales tax on menstrual products, considering them non-essential.