Providing free menstrual supplies — while necessary in the movement towards equity — is only part of what’s necessary. (Shutterstock)
The Conversation: Free menstrual products matter to support equity, but so do adequate facilities and sinks
As written in The Conversation by Pauline Tennent (Manager, Centre for Human Rights Research, University of Manitoba), Adele Perry (Director, Centre for Human Rights Research and Distinguished Professor, History and Women’s and Gender Studies, University of Manitoba), Julia Smith (Assistant Professor in Labour Studies, University of Manitoba) and Lindsay Larios (Assistant Professor of Social Work, University of Manitoba.
Over the past years, activists have made important gains in the effort to provide people who menstruate with adequate and free supplies.
In Canada, all washrooms in federally regulated workplaces must have period supplies. In Manitoba, period supplies are offered to students in all public schools in a three-year initiative through a corporate partnership and charitable donation.
Further from home, Scotland became the first country to make period products free to all in 2020, and more recently, to our south, Minnesota’s initiative to make menstrual products free in schools has made headlines.
Yet, despite these advances, menstruation continues to shape lives in negative ways and diminish opportunities for many of those who experience it. Providing free supplies in some places — while necessary in the movement towards equity — is only part of the story.
To read the full story, visit The Conversation Canada.