Meet the Thirsty Girls – giving back to the homeless women of Manchester

Rebecca McGrath | 20th February 2018

Charlotte Davies (left) with Katie Morgan and Brooke Williams. Photo by Asupremeshot

A young woman is curled up in her scruffy sleeping bag in a shop doorway of Market Street. She looks weary as she asks passers-by for help in her feeble voice. It’s the time of the month and for most people, the thought of having sanitary products on hand doesn’t cross their mind, but for some women, it can be the choice between food or tampons for that month.

According to Manchester City council’s annual rough sleeper count, nearly twice as many people are sleeping on the streets of Manchester as last year. Homelessness has always been an escalating problem within Manchester and it only continues to grow, adding pressure to Manchester City council to find a solution.

The needs of female rough sleepers are often overlooked, after all you don’t stop being a female once you’re on the streets. Periods don’t stop so how are women supposed to deal with a monthly cycle when they may not have access to the right products?

As reported by the Guardian, 26% of women make up the UK’s overall homeless figure so imagine how many women are having to cope with this problem every month.

This is where the ‘Thirsty Girls’ come to the rescue of women across Manchester. The Manchester-based group consists of five girls (Charlotte Davies, Katie Morgan, Rachel Earnshaw, Brooke Williams and Lex Bose) who are bringing girl power to the forefront of their campaign.

Charlotte Davies started the group just over a year ago. “We’re a DJ collective – primarily we play music by women and LGBT musicians, but we’ve also started helping people in the wider arts community as well.”

“I met Katie and Lex through mutual friends, Rachel and I have known each other online for years, and Brooke got in touch with us as she wanted to join.”

There’s no stopping these girls – working with Girl Gang Manchester on a clothes swap on Saturday 24 February to raise money for Manchester’s Street Heath charity MASH, and having their own ‘Simpsons- themed’ club nights called ‘Homerpalooza’, their events only continue to expand and grow.

They now DJ every Saturday night at Manchester’s Deaf Insitute for Girls On Film. 

The gang aged between 19 and 23 have lived, or are still living in the Manchester area ranging from Salford to Fallowfield, with the exception of Rachel who lives in York.

“We all love the city and this is where we are based”, Charlotte says.

“Helping disadvantaged women is one of the main priorities that the Thirsty Girls have. I’ve been coming to Manchester since I was fifteen and in the seven years I’ve been coming here I’ve noticed the amount homelessness in Manchester has grown massively, it has maybe tripled since I first started coming here.”

The Thirsty Girls are proud to raise money for disadvantaged women in their local community and it’s clear through their positive attitudes towards collaborating with regional charities and organisations.

One local organisation they’ve just worked with is the ‘Monthly Gift MCR’ who take sanitary product donations and distribute them to charities who help the homeless and people experiencing poverty. Many businesses in the Northern Quarter are big supporters of the Monthly Gift including: COW, The Bizarre, RCNQ Hair Salon, Nexus Art Café, Vrevolution, Teacup, Nicky Oliver and many more places.

Charlotte said: “We discovered the Monthly Gift on social media because they followed us on Instagram and Twitter, obviously we checked them out because it’s a really good cause.”

Donations are forwarded to local charities and organisations in Manchester such as Mustard Tree, Booth Centre, Lifeshare, Urban Village Medical Practice and more.

Periods are often seen as a taboo subject, but how can people in more fortunate situations overlook what homeless women experience during menstruation?

They can be an ordeal at the best of times but when you are living on the streets it’s a need to get through possibly the most difficult and horrendous week of the month. Pads and tampons are a necessity and should be provided to vulnerable women too and that’s where the Monthly Gift are helping.

“I think the Monthly Gift is an amazing organisation,” Charlotte says. “It’s a forgotten issue, you don’t think about it at all, or you don’t realise how difficult and traumatising it can be for a homeless woman who’s just got their period and doesn’t know how they’re going to deal with it. So something like the Monthly Gift who supply them with the products that they need for the time of the month – it is the perfect charity really.”

Charlotte and the rest of the girls are advocates for women across Greater Manchester. “We just wanted to give something back,” they add. Whilst the Thirsty Girls are busy raising awareness throughout Manchester and beyond, there are plenty of women still out there who don’t have any access to the products they need.

With limited or no access to products, women are often forced to go without. Some women have to use rags, socks or whatever else they can lay their hands on. Yes, the topic is uncomfortable but think how uncomfortable these women feel when they have to deal with poor menstruation hygiene month after month. In these situations, awareness can be the start of a solution and that’s exactly what the Thirsty Girls are achieving through raising awareness through their events like the clothes swap.

“We thought we wanted to do something that will help these people. I mean you see so many homeless women who are clearly struggling.” Charlotte says. “We’re literally just trying to help people and to raise awareness especially in Manchester with our events we’re trying to create safer spaces for women.”

Period products are a basic need, not a luxury, not an embarrassment, but a must. No woman should ever have to beg for something they simply can’t help.

For more information go to: https://www.facebook.com/thirstygirlscollective/  

and https://www.facebook.com/MonthlyGiftMCR/ 

Their next event is Dancing In My Nuddy-Pants on Thursday 8 March.