Meet The Next Gen Of Changemakers

Meet eight young leaders paving the way forward: When these girls see problems in our world, they don’t complain—they stand up and take action.

- Rachel Chang

PERIOD EQUALITY ADVOCATE

When Amika George read that children in the U.K. were missing school because they were too poor to afford menstrual products, she couldn’t believe it. “I felt this was really unfair because periods are a natural bodily function, and it couldn’t be right that their education had to be compromised because of it,” she says.

So, the 20-year-old from North London started a Change.org petition from her bedroom, asking the British prime minister to provide free menstrual products to girls who are eligible for free lunch.

Amika hoped her petition would get 10 signatures. Instead, it got 2,000.

With that boost, Amika reached out directly to U.K. politicians—and it quickly became a topic of the nation’s 2017 election, marking the first time periods were mentioned in the run-up to the general election. She also helped organize a demonstration in front of the prime minister’s office at 10 Downing St., which drew 2,000 people, including actress Suki Waterhouse.

“After two years of campaigning, we succeeded,” says Amika, noting that in April of this year, the government pledged to provide free period products in all schools and colleges. “From early 2020 this will be a reality, so no child will have to miss school because of period poverty.”

Today, her original Change.org petition has more than 275,000 supporters, but Amika’s aiming higher. She has her eyes set on eradicating the issue globally. “We want to roll out what we have achieved here in the U.K. to other countries,” she says. “It’s happening in every country where there is poverty because menstrual products drop to the bottom of the list of priorities when there’s no food on the table.”