With very little university interest in the seemingly taboo area of women’s reproductive health, she decided to focus on her charity’s own study covering the social, personal and financial impact of menstruation, and what eventually was to become known as the Bloody Big Survey burst into life.

Run online across three months and comprised of 28 questions, with significant Facebook campaign assistance, the response was incredible.

More than 125,000 respondents resulted in an unprecedented insight, in the process providing the world’s most comprehensive body of data on menstruation.

The feedback provided a startling snapshot of the state of affairs in the nation’s schools.

“To read that one in five girls and women have been through period poverty, actually really shocked me,” Courtenay tells EducationHQ.

“To see the numbers on how many girls missed out on school [due to their period] shocked me.

“To see that 12 per cent of girls aged eight, nine, and 10 start their periods, yet schools didn’t even provide waste disposal bins for period products for that age group…”

The survey also found 41 per cent of people were embarrassed to talk about their periods.

“This is not about me at 50, or you at 40 or 30. It’s about how do we get to the girls that are in schools? And how do we get to kids so that in 10 years' time, there just isn’t the shame and stigma anymore? That’s how the Creating Period Pride comp idea started,” Rochelle Courtenay says.

The data has enabled Share The Dignity and its affiliated charities to instigate change in schools, helping students of all ages and those who are just beginning to experience regular periods, to end the shame and stigma and to help ensure menstrual equity for all.

“We’re looking at every state and territory providing access to period products to secondary schools. We’ve got some work to do with regards to ensuring that there’s availability in all primary schools, but we’re getting there.”

In September last year, Queensland Education Minister Grace Grace revealed that since the Government had signed a partnership with Share The Dignity in 2022 to install Dignity Vending Machines, more than 100,000 free period product packs had been distributed to schools across the state. Each pack contains six tampons and two pads.

The installation, maintenance, and stocking of the vending machines has required an investment of more than $35 million.

“Access to period products should never be a barrier to learning,” Grace said at the time. To date, 147 Queensland schools (131 public and 16 non-government) have taken part, with many more expected to take up the offer.

With its 5500 volunteers collecting and distributing in excess of three million period products across Australia, Share The Dignity is also now in its second year of rolling out its Creating Period Pride Competition.

Developed to give schools and community groups the tools to initiate conversations with their students about periods and encourage them to create content that will aid in promoting period pride, the comp has gone from strength to strength. 

The competition winner receives $5000 for their community group or school, with prizes also up for grabs for second place, third place and five category winners. 

“I’m hopeful our future leaders can help us move forward into a period positive future,” Courtenay says.

“Period education is incredibly important not just for kids who get their period, but for young boys as well.

“They grow up to be brothers, fathers, colleagues and friends, so I encourage schools and community groups to get all your kids involved to be part of the conversation.”

Entry numbers in the first two years of the comp have grown from 50 to 100, and have included original songs, murals, TikTok videos, poetry, artworks and more.

“It’s our goal to have 200 this year,” Courtenay says.

“The winning entrant last year was an amazing young artist who wrote a song about periods and created a video clip to go with it.

“For me as an older student, it has been so rewarding to see how this initiative has impacted the younger girls at my school,” Academy of Mary Immaculate College, Year 11 student, Lucy Diggerson said after winning last year’s Creating Period Pride competition. She said it helped kickstart some meaningful conversations around periods.

“I loved her entry, but I also loved that the prize money is being used for Grade 11 students to work with Grade 7 students for workshops about menstruation.

“That’s brilliant. They’re taking it on themselves and owning it, right? And that’s a game changer.”

With the success of the Bloody Big Survey in 2021, Share The Dignity is also about to roll the survey out again.

“…and this time I want 500,000 respondents,” Courtenay says.

“I also want to throw the net further, to get remote Indigenous communities responding, so that we get our drought stricken farming communities answering.

“I want to know how many girls are missing out on sport, and what sport do they play? I want to know how severely the working poor are affected by menstruation?

“I met a teacher’s aide recently … and her husband had lost his job, and she was cutting her pads in half, because that’s all that her family could afford.

“I just want to be able to throw the net further so that we can really capture the real situation, because what I think, and what I’m scared of, is that we’ll find those stats extremely alarming.”

The Bloody Big Survey 2024 kicks off from March 1 until May 31, with results to be published on August 1.

Entries for the 2024 Creating Period Pride can be lodged here. Competition entries will be accepted up until midnight on October 14. The first 100 new schools and community groups to register for this year's competition will be sent a Period Pride toolkit.