Today was one of those days when I had to stop for a minute and think about how I actually got here.

This afternoon I sat in Portcullis House at Parliament, giving evidence to the Women and Equalities Committee as part of its inquiry into reproductive health conditions among girls and young women. And I was proud. Really bloody proud!

I’ve spent most of my working life with girls and young people. In classrooms, youth centres, sexual health services and girls’ groups, delivering workshops, creating resources, training professionals and having thousands of conversations about periods, bodies, relationships, sex, health and all the things young people don’t always find easy to talk about.

Today, some of what I’ve learned from all those years of doing the work had a seat at the table in Parliament.

From submitting evidence to being invited to Parliament

Earlier this year, the Women and Equalities Committee launched an inquiry into reproductive health conditions among girls and young women.

I submitted written evidence because there were things I felt strongly needed saying from an education and youth-work perspective. My evidence was accepted and published by Parliament in October, and then came an invitation I wasn’t expecting: would I come to Westminster and give evidence in person? Erm… YES.

So this morning I headed to London, walked into Parliament and took my place as one of the witnesses appearing before the Committee.

The inquiry is looking at whether girls and young women are being listened to and taken seriously when it comes to their reproductive health, including diagnosis, treatment, pain management and the impact poor reproductive health can have on education and later life.

Today’s session particularly focused on period stigma, menstrual wellbeing education in schools and RSHE, online misinformation, period-tracking technology and access to period products. Basically, all the things, I was going to have opinions about…

What are we actually teaching girls about their bodies?

A huge part of my contribution today came back to education. I’ve worked with girls for decades and one thing I’ve seen repeatedly is just how much we expect them to somehow know about their own bodies without necessarily giving them the education, language or confidence they need to understand what’s happening to them. Period education can’t simply be this is a uterus, this is a period, here’s a pad, off you go.

Girls need to understand what a menstrual cycle is, what can happen throughout it and how their bodies may feel. They need the language to describe pain, bleeding and changes to their health, and they need to know when something might warrant asking for help. Because education isn’t just about passing on information. It needs to give girls the confidence and vocabulary to advocate for themselves. And when we’re talking about girls’ health, that matters enormously.

Quite a panel to find myself sitting on…

I also need to talk about the women I found myself sitting alongside because LOOK AT THIS LINE-UP.

Giving evidence with me today were Dr Aziza Sesay, GP and women’s health advocate; Dr Tori Ford, founder and Executive Director of Medical Herstory; Chella Quint OBE, founder of Period Positive and author; and Dr Nighat Arif, GP and women’s health broadcaster. And Parliament rather wonderfully listed me as Kerry Wolstenholme, RSHE specialist and author.

There was something quite special about looking around that table and hearing so many different areas of expertise come together around the same issue. Medicine matters. Research matters. Policy matters. Campaigning matters.

But so does what happens in a Year 8 classroom on a Tuesday afternoon! So does the girl who thinks debilitating period pain is just something she has to put up with. The teenager getting her health information from TikTok. The student embarrassed to ask for a period product. The young person who doesn’t have the language to explain what’s happening to her body.

That’s the world I know, and that’s what I was there to share.

A long way from where I started

I’ve been working with young people and delivering relationships, sex and health education for some almost 30 years.

When I started, I wasn’t thinking about writing books or parliamentary committees. I was thinking about the young people sitting in front of me and how I could get them talking about subjects that were often awkward, embarrassing or completely avoided. Somehow, one workshop became another. Then another.

There have been thousands of young people, countless schools, girls’ groups, sexual health sessions, resources, training courses and conversations along the way. I’ve written a book, developed programmes of my own and continued doing the bit I’ve always loved most, actually working with young people. So sitting in Parliament today felt a little bit surreal. Not because I suddenly know everything about girls’ health….I absolutely don’t, but because 28 years of listening to girls has taught me something worth contributing.

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Read and watch the evidence

My written evidence to the Women and Equalities Committee is published by UK Parliament as RHW0048.

Read Kerry Wolstenholme’s written evidence to Parliament

The full oral evidence session, including the witness details and Parliament’s recording of the session, is also available online.

Watch/read the Women and Equalities Committee evidence session – 3 December 2025