Leah Williamson and Beth Mead sit down for an unfiltered chat on International Women's Day

Lionesses Leah Williamson and Beth Mead sat down for an unfiltered chat about menstrual cycle on International Women’s Day 2025, reminding every woman and girl that periods are nothing to be embarrassed about.

Williamson and Mead were joined by health advocate Robyn for their chat at St. George’s Park which included raw honesty, personal experiences, and a few laugh-out-loud moments along the way as they discussed everything from unexpected moments to all-too-familiar struggles.

The England duo spoke about normalising the conversation on periods which, they explained, is a conversation they frequently have with team-mates as professional footballers.

“We're lucky in the sense that in our work environment, you can't hide from it,” said Williamson. “There's no opportunity for us to hide it. We're in the same spaces, changing rooms, showers, playing football in shorts – I’ve never been afforded the luxury of not talking about it.”

“I think it's been very normalised for us as footballers,” added Mead. “But arguably, over the last so many years, it's been normalised more. For us in the changing rooms it’s always been a little bit different, but to the outside world, it's only been probably two or three years that it’s been normalised more.”

The pair shared their experiences of first starting their periods and becoming more comfortable with the conversation with age when reflecting on how their younger selves might have handled situations.

“When we all need a tampon or a pad, I have no shame in the changing room asking for one or throwing one across the room,” said Williamson. “I have no shame and would be open about it. But I was definitely not that way when I was younger or at school. But I just always think, half of the population has one, you are not alone. You think it’s not happening to anyone else but it is.

“I think we empower each other in so many other ways that then this is just one of the small cogs in the wheel of empowering each other. There's just no shame, which is, I think, the main thing that allows us to be free.”

Anxieties around playing football while on your period was also discussed as Williamson and Mead touched on why players might feel uneasy when taking to a football pitch.

“I know so many people in professional sports who double protect themselves or wear extra layers,” explained Williamson. “You do sport to feel free so to then give yourself anxiety about something in your head, it’s so counterproductive but I understand why people do it.

“You don't want to be embarrassed and, especially being at school with boys and banter, you're brought up to think that it's like a really shameful thing. There’s so much rubbish built up around it. But I just get to the point where I play sport to be free. I can't be free if I'm worrying about the most natural thing in the world.”

“I'm very lucky in the sense that I'm not a heavy bleeder,” said Mead. “I wouldn't say I've ever sat and worried about that. When I was younger, I was worse. But now I've obviously got a bit older, I’ve stopped worrying about it. Maybe that's helped. Maybe it hasn't.

“So I feel like, on the menstrual cycle spectrum, I'm quite lucky in how I am, I know to the day I'm on for five days and that's me. I'm very, very lucky in that sense, but I know that it's not easy for everybody.

“We're all different, and we all deal with it differently, and that's okay. Like Leah said, it's normal. Half the population has it. It's not ideal, it's not something you want, but if it happens, it's okay. And I think we've really got to, you know, tell each other that little bit more often and make that a bit more normal.”

“There's no shame - which is the main thing that allows us to be free.” 💪
@bmeado9 & @leahcwilliamson share their laugh-out-loud moments and why we need to stop hiding our periods, period! ❤️
#MadeForThisGame 🤝 #IWD2025

— Lionesses (@Lionesses) March 8, 2025

However, they encouraged women and girls to empower the conversation around periods in order to change the perception of others around the topic which is often seen as a taboo subject.

“I do think that we as women can change so much just by the way that we behave,” said Williamson. “So when you walk to the toilet in a restaurant, don’t hide the tampon up your sleeve, just try and empower yourself.

“And then when it comes to men who don’t understand, educate them. I went to a water park once and I didn't go in the water because I didn't have a tampon. And I was with my dad. My dad has children. I'm sure he understands the concept of a period, but I just never gave him the benefit of the doubt to help me. I just shut him out of it, which also isn’t fair.

“Us as women I just think we have to empower ourselves so much more. Because I can say, in our (team) environment, because we're empowered, we have the most knowledge (on periods) of any of my friendship groups.”