In France today, 1.7 million women do not have the financial means to buy intimate hygiene products, or not in sufficient quantity. Consequently, it’s difficult for some of them to continue with normal day-to-day life with dignity, when menstruating. For some, the solution lies in absence, with these women preferring not to show up at their place of study or work during their period.

What a surprise it was for millions of viewers to discover on 3 major national TV channels, instead of their weather forecast, the following message:

“Our weather presenter will not be presenting the weather, because she has her period. We apologize for the inconvenience”.

At the end of the weather report, the message from the Association Règles Élémentaires, who fights against menstrual precariousness, revealed:

"This initiative is carried out in solidarity with the 1.7 million of women suffering from period poverty. Because they don’t have the financial means to buy intimate hygiene products, most of them cannot go to school or work during their period".

To highlight the problem of those women who prefer to stay at home rather than go to work or school during their periods, because they cannot afford to buy periodical protection, we wanted to create a paradox. We asked ourselves "who are the most visible women in France?", then we choose to make them invisible to the public, like these women in precarious situations. We wanted to create an impact on the French population and reach a wide target. So, we decided to convince some national TV channels to partner with us.

In solidarity with 1.7 million invisible French women suffering from period poverty, the most visible women in France, the weather presenters of 9 TV channels, including 3 major national channels, did not show up on air when they were supposed to be presenting the weather forecast. Like these women who every month can't go to work or school because they can't afford to buy periodic protections, they agreed to disappear of the screen.

We wanted to raise awareness of the problem and raise donations, but we achieved a lot more. The operation contributed to raise awareness to the topic of period poverty, which started emerging in the public debates. The French Minister for gender equality, Marlène Schiappa announced the experimentation of free distribution of hygienic protections. The founder of the Association Règles Élémentaires declared that this campaign contributed to change the laws and to ensure that all women today and, in the future, live their period with dignity.