Home Truths: Tackling the Period Penalty

Emma Defoe is Head of Operations & Activism at Bloody Good Period (BGP). She oversees and manages the core of the charity’s work – getting period products out to people who need them – as well as leading campaigning work, where the charity aims to not have to exist. BGP’s Operations team deliver free menstrual health products to over 20,000 people through 100-plus nationwide community partners, and also addresses the taboo of periods by providing information on types of products, guidance on talking about periods, and signposting to support services. Emma also champions the decisions and voices of the people BGP work with, overseeing the development and implementation of the Trust for London-funded Experts by Experience Forum.

Francesca Thomas is an inspirational educator, writer, and researcher. Most of her career has been dedicated to empowering parents and parents-to-be to make evidence-based choices and decisions that work for them and their families. She is an accomplished group facilitator and research editor with over 20 years’ experience in maternity and childbirth research and education.

Francesca is Research Editor for Thrive, an influential UK-based digital health content agency specialising in women’s health, and Babycentre – the most trusted pregnancy and parenting website in the UK. For over a decade she combined these roles with facilitating antenatal classes in her local community, and volunteering as a user representative for the maternity unit at Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Foundation Hospital Trust.

In partnership with the School of English at the University of Nottingham, Thrive recently conducted a linguistic study of how two generations of women in the UK talk about their periods and menstrual health, and how 14 period product brands talk about the concerns of and experiences of women. Francesca was co-researcher on this project alongside her colleague, Gayatri Koshy, and is delighted to represent both Gayatri and Thrive to report on the findings during the discussion.

Christine Dean is a former family lawyer working in HR for the Civil Service. Christine has always been passionate about fighting for women’s equality and improving women’s ability to be heard. Christine became politically active when she joined the Women’s Equality Party in 2018. Christine has held various voluntary roles within the Party, culminating with her appointment as Deputy Leader responsible for Community and Connectedness in November 2020.

Christine’s term as Deputy Leader expired at the end of 2022, but her work on campaigns to improve black women’s health and participation in the Black Women’s Reproductive Health Project has inspired her to start a new project, the ‘Black Women’s Wellness Podcast’.Christine is also an ambassador and advocate for the for the Black Women’s Reproductive Health Project.

Gaynor Tutani (Art Adlib) is a curator, producer and writer who merges her various arts, culture, community and educational passions to produce exhibitions, events and commentaries on art and curating. Her speciality is in public programming – hosting music performances, talks, interviews and poetry programs, of which she extends as part of her practice as the Creative Programing Officer at the Museum of the Home. Working across the Creative Programmes and Collections team, as well as the Commercial and Campaigns division, her role centres on aligning the Museum’s programming within the core values and vision of engaging with the museum communities through fundraising and programming that interrogates critical societal issues through an artistic practice.

Gaynor is the Co-founder of EARTHworks [Artists], a curatorial duo that is dedicated to promoting creative collaborations through an intergenerational lens. Their work aims to raise awareness of the benefits of art and art making practices to health and well-being, alongside global issues such as climate change, equality and diversity.