The results of our 2026 Cost of Silence survey are in. You might just find the numbers are rather surprising! Menstruators across Canada described the everyday realities of navigating schools, workplaces, public transit, healthcare facilities, campuses, and public washrooms without reliable menstrual support infrastructure.

The findings? 

A revealing pattern extends far beyond inconvenience: many public spaces across Canada are still not consistently designed to support menstruation with dignity.

When we asked menstruators about their experiences in public spaces, 54% reported facing dignity barriers related to period care access, including empty dispensers, missing products, inadequate disposal systems, and washrooms that simply weren’t designed with real menstrual experiences in mind.

That number is more than a statistic. It’s a signal. A clearer picture of where our systems are falling short — and where we have the opportunity to build something better.

Because periods aren’t the problem. The environments people are forced to navigate are.

Why joni launched the Cost of Silence survey

The Cost of Silence survey is part of joni’s ongoing BLEED mission: moving beyond awareness and into meaningful, structural change for menstrual justice.

For years, we’ve heard stories about missed classes, stressful commutes, awkward workplace conversations, inaccessible products, and public washrooms that leave people improvising with toilet paper or leaving early in embarrassment. We wanted to better understand how widespread these experiences really are and what they reveal about the systems surrounding menstruation in Canada.

By combining lived experiences from across Canada with measurable data, the survey helps schools, workplaces, policymakers, healthcare organizations, and public facilities move from intention to action.

Because when nearly half of menstruators are making trade-offs between period products and essentials, and more than half don’t trust public washrooms to support them, this stops being an individual inconvenience. It becomes an infrastructure issue.

At joni, our work spans consumer period care products, public washroom dispensers, workplace and campus programs, nonprofit partnerships, and menstrual equity advocacy initiatives designed to expand reliable access across Canada. We regularly see how inconsistent stocking systems, reactive purchasing processes, inaccessible washroom design, and inadequate disposal planning contribute to recurring access gaps for menstruators.

The Cost of Silence survey helps quantify what many people are already experiencing every day.

For the full breakdown of the findings — including menstrual affordability, public washroom access, menstrual health education, and dignity barriers — explore the full survey results here: joni Cost of Silence Period Equity in Canada Report 

About the Cost of Silence survey

The Cost of Silence survey collected responses from menstruators across Canada to better understand experiences related to menstrual product accessibility, affordability, menstrual health education, workplace support, and public washroom infrastructure.

Responses included both quantitative survey data and qualitative lived-experience submissions to help identify patterns surrounding menstrual equity in everyday life.

54% of menstruators report gaps in menstrual infrastructure

Behind every percentage is someone trying to get through an ordinary day.

Someone at school.
Someone at work.
Someone commuting home.
Someone travelling.
Someone standing in a public washroom hoping the dispenser isn’t empty this time.

Here’s what people told us:

“In school the dispenser doesn’t even turn on, nor have any products in it. They make us walk to the office and say in front of everyone in there that we need a pad or tampons, while risking bleeding through.”

“My workplace building only has products for purchase.”

“My workplace does not provide free menstrual products, even though we are a health care facility.”

“I was travelling home from vacation and surprisingly got my period on a 6-hour flight. There were no products available, so I had to use toilet paper.”

“Public washrooms are seriously not equipped for women when on their periods. It’s a struggle and those tiny garbage cans are a joke and almost always full.”

“There is no adequate disposal receptacles in public bathrooms — have to wrap up product in toilet paper and find a garbage can somewhere. This isn’t sanitary!”

“Public washrooms with multiple stalls are not a good option for removing and cleaning [a menstrual cup].”

“My period came a week early and we were on a road trip. There was not product at the truck stop we stopped at to buy or use for free in the washroom.”

“Sometimes I get my period in public and there’s no access to products. I’ve had to use a bunch of toilet paper to get me by until I get home or to a store.”

“If I’m in public and I get my period — for example, on a ferry — the dispenser, if there even is one, is almost always empty.”

These experiences are deeply normalized, but they shouldn’t be.

When 54% of menstruators report dignity barriers in public spaces, it becomes clear this is not about isolated incidents. It’s about how shared spaces have historically been designed and who they’ve been designed for.

What menstrual infrastructure is still missing from public spaces

The 54% statistic isn’t simply about “bad bathrooms.”

It reflects what happens when menstruation is treated as an afterthought in the design of schools, workplaces, healthcare facilities, transit systems, campuses, and public spaces.

Empty dispensers. Overflowing disposal bins. Products locked behind counters. Washrooms that require people to publicly announce their needs. Facilities that assume menstruation can always be perfectly planned for.

All of it adds up to stress, shame, inconvenience, exclusion, and preventable disruption layered onto something completely normal.

What we can change

We can start treating period care like what it actually is: essential public infrastructure.

That means:

• Reliable, consistently stocked menstrual products in washrooms

• Disposal systems that are hygienic, private, and easy to use

• Washroom design that considers real menstrual experiences

• Facilities that support dignity without requiring people to ask for help publicly

• Operational systems that help organizations maintain access consistently over time

At joni, this is exactly why we built our menstrual access programs the way we did: thoughtfully designed dispensers, plant-based products people feel good using, and service systems that help facilities stay stocked proactively instead of reacting once products are already unavailable.

Because period care access only works if products are actually there when people need them.

48% of menstruators face affordability barriers to period care

Another finding from the survey is just as urgent:

48% of menstruators reported having to choose between period products and other basic necessities.

That means groceries. Gas. Rent. Bills. Childcare.

And while affordability matters, accessibility matters too.

When period products are available where people already are — at schools, workplaces, community centres, healthcare facilities, campuses, transit hubs, and public buildings — we reduce the pressure people carry both financially and emotionally.

Point-of-need period care changes everyday experiences:

• A surprise early period becomes manageable instead of stressful

• Someone working a long shift doesn’t need to leave work to buy products

• A student can stay in class instead of going home

• A commute, ferry ride, or road trip doesn’t become a source of panic

• People can participate in public life with greater comfort and dignity

What we can change

We can stop treating period care like a personal problem people are expected to solve entirely on their own.

Toilet paper is stocked because we understand people may need it unexpectedly. Menstrual products deserve the same infrastructure logic.

Through joni’s give-back programs, nonprofit partnerships, workplace initiatives, and public washroom programs, we’re working to help expand reliable menstrual product accessibility in the places people need it most — and to help organizations move from performative support to dependable systems.

64% rely on family for menstrual health information

The survey also revealed that 64% of menstruators rely primarily on family members for menstrual health information instead of healthcare professionals.

That doesn’t mean family support is a bad thing. Often, it’s where people feel safest.

But it does reveal how many people may be navigating pain, irregular cycles, heavy bleeding, hormonal symptoms, or menstrual health concerns without clinical guidance or evidence-based information.

And for many people, that silence starts early.

Many menstruators still grow up learning to whisper about periods, minimize pain, or assume discomfort is simply something they’re expected to tolerate.

What we can change

We can create spaces where people feel safe asking:
“Is this normal?”

That can look like:

• Better menstrual health education in schools

• Workplace wellness programs that include menstrual health

• Public health campaigns that normalize conversations about periods

• Healthcare systems that proactively ask about menstrual wellbeing

• Public conversations that reduce shame and stigma around menstruation

When institutions normalize menstrual health conversations, people are more likely to seek support earlier, advocate for themselves, and feel less isolated in their experiences.

And that changes outcomes.

The future of menstrual infrastructure

As more schools, workplaces, campuses, healthcare facilities, airports, public institutions, and businesses adopt free period care programs, the conversation around menstrual equity is beginning to shift.

The question is no longer whether period products belong in public spaces.

Increasingly, the question is whether systems are designed to provide them reliably, consistently, and with dignity.

That shift matters.

Because menstrual equity is not just about offering products occasionally. It’s about building environments where people can fully participate in daily life without preventable barriers tied to menstruation.

The barriers are already visible, which means the solutions can be built intentionally.

An invitation to redesign our spaces — together

Whether you manage a building, run a school, lead a workplace, oversee facilities operations, design public spaces, or simply use public washrooms, these findings belong to all of us.

Because the systems surrounding menstruation were designed by people — which means they can also be redesigned by people.

Period equity doesn’t require perfection overnight. It starts with practical decisions:

• stocking products consistently

• designing washrooms more thoughtfully

• improving menstrual product accessibility

• creating policies that support dignity

• normalizing conversations instead of avoiding them

• treating menstrual care as infrastructure rather than an afterthought

A more period-friendly world isn’t abstract. It’s practical. It’s achievable. And the gaps — along with the opportunities to close them — are already clearly visible.

With joni's Cost of Silence report findings, we now have stronger evidence of where menstrual infrastructure is falling short in Canada. The next step is deciding to build better systems together.

Because menstrual equity isn’t achieved through awareness alone. It’s built through systems people can rely on every day.

👉 Cost of Silence Period Equity in Canada Report 2026

👉 Get Commercial Period Care Solutions for Your Washrooms