On December 15^th in the Senedd, Members of our Welsh Parliament debated the new Curriculum & Assessment (Wales) Bill. One third of those in attendance spoke out in support of FTWW and Endometriosis UK’s calls for mandatory Menstrual Wellbeing Education.

It is absolutely vital that all young people, regardless of gender, understand what is happening to their bodies as they go through puberty, and recognise what constitutes a ‘normal’ menstrual cycle, so they know when and how to seek help if something isn’t right. Without this knowledge, young people will continue to suffer in silence, without access to the help and support they need; potentially having a huge impact on their physical and mental health, education and future career.

The Education Minister has conceded that Mental Health & Resilience should be mandatory in the curriculum, something both FTWW and Endometriosis UK absolutely support. However, for 52% of the population mental health is fundamentally linked with menstrual health, further demonstrating the need for education on Menstrual Wellbeing Education is a must.

The next step of this campaign is a supplementary debate in the Senedd in early 2021, which will see both of FTWW and Endometriosis UK continuing to work together to call for compulsory Menstrual Wellbeing Education in schools.

Here’s how you can get involved:

1) Write to your Member of the Senedd and ask them to support compulsory Menstrual Wellbeing Education. They can do this by writing to the Education Minister Kirsty Williams and by tabling an Amendment to the Bill. We will have a template letter available for you in the new year, or you can write to them with your own personalised letter in the meantime.

2) Tweet your Member of the Senedd asking them to support the above, using the #TeachMenstrualWellbeingWales and / or #periodsarenotachoice

3) Share your story on social media, using the hash-tags above.

Let’s make 2021 the year where women’s voices are heard in Wales – starting with mandatory Menstrual Wellbeing Education!

See the December 15^th Plenary here