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In Historic Move, Scotland Will Give Low-Income Women Free Pads and Tampons

Few, if any, countries provide women with free sanitary products because they're not seen as necessary—but women are hugely impacted when they can't afford menstrual care.
Foto de BSIP vía Getty

Earlier this week, Scotland became one of the first countries in the world to help low-income women access menstrual care. On Tuesday, the government launched a six-month pilot program that will provide free tampons and pads to low-income women and girls in the port city of Aberdeen.

According to the Independent, at least 1000 women and girls will benefit from the program, which is run by Community Food Initiatives North East (CFINE), an Aberdeen-based social enterprise. Under the program, free pads and tampons will be available at three high schools, a college, and several local organizations.

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A representative for CFINE told the Independent that, over a woman's lifetime, sanitary products can cost her over £5,000—or around $6,500. This is "a significant sum for those on low-income," he said. "Many cannot afford them, and may use inappropriate methods or miss school."

One anti-poverty organizer told BBC Radio Scotland that some women have to resort to socks, toilet paper, and even newspaper when their menstrual cycles starts. "It's literally as grave as that," said Ewan Gunn of the Trussell Trust. "Schools and colleges will provide condoms for something that you can abstain from, but you cannot abstain from having your period. We need to find a way that we can provide for this issue right now."

In a statement, a government spokesperson said that the pilot initiative will help "inform the future approach to the issue across Scotland."

Read more: The Activists Making Sure Kids Don't Miss School Because of Their Periods

Jennifer Weiss-Wolf, author of the forthcoming book, Periods Gone Public: Taking a Stand for Menstrual Equity, has worked on equitable menstrual policy in the US for several years. She says that "period poverty" is a serious issue, though it often goes undiscussed due to stigma and sexism. "It's thrilling to see a country taking this on via their national government and making a national priority of it," she tells Broadly. "One of the reasons I'm so focused on policy change, versus other kinds of activism, is that I truly believe we make a valued statement about what it is we stand for as a people through the laws that we pass. The idea that Scotland is taking this on as national public initiative creates a very important message for all of us to carry out wherever we live."

Access to sanitary products is not only a matter of human dignity, she says, but it's also a means for women and girls to be able to effectively participate in society. In Kenya, for example, menstruation is cited as the number one reason why girls miss school. A recent report from The Independent revealed that girls in the UK also skipped classes because they couldn't afford sanitary protection.

"I hope to see [the work to make tampons and pads free] replicated in every way possible around the world," Weiss-Wolf says. "That'll look different in Kenya than it will in the US, in India, in parts of Europe, but the sentiment and the beliefs that are encompassed in making this a publicly funded initiative should matter to all of us. We all bear the same level of challenge in terms of the stigmatization of menstruation."

Feminine hygiene products are as necessary in public restrooms as toilet paper, she continues. "You know why toilet paper is provided in public restrooms? Not because of anyone's good sensibilities about it one way or another. It's because it's been regulated. This is why policy matters. It's actually federal OSHA regulation that requires the various products that are included in public restrooms … but somehow menstrual products never got on the list. Why do you think that is?"

"Everybody uses publicly funded toilet paper when they use public restrooms," she continues. Somehow, however, the quest for more affordable pads and tampons is seen as a separate, less significant issue. Weiss-Wolf takes issue with this logic: "Anyone who argues that this is like women asking for special treatment or entitlement, I would ask them to please reimburse me for all the toilet paper I provided them then.