Scottish MP breaks taboo & discusses her period in House of Commons
July 4, 2018 10:23 AM   Subscribe

Last week, Scottish Labour Member of Parliament Danielle Rowley explained that the reason she was late to a debate in the House of Commons was because she had her period. She noted that it had cost her £25 already that week and that the annual average cost of menstrual products in the UK per person is £500. Rowley then called for action to address the issue of period poverty in the UK. Meanwhile, Member of Scottish Parliament Monica Lennon (Labour) has garnered support at 96% from all 5 parties for her bill proposing Scottish Parliament provide free menstrual supplies to everyone who needs them.
The legislation, if passed, would create a new duty on ministers to introduce a universal system of free provision of sanitary products. Ms Lennon says this would operate in a similar way to the NHS C-Card scheme, which distributes free condoms to anyone who wants them, with no questions asked. But while the free sanitary products would be available to everyone, she believes that most women would continue to buy their preferred brand from shops and supermarkets if they can afford to do so. Ms Lennon's proposals would also require schools, colleges and universities to provide free sanitary products in their female toilets, which would not just be available to students.
Earlier this year, a survey was released on the effects of period poverty in Scotland that revealed the extreme lengths some people go to because they cannot afford to buy menstrual products. For example, some people reported using old clothes or newspapers, or not changing products as often as they should, resulting in vaginal infections.

Menstrual products are now provided for free to all staff and visitors to the Scottish Parliament buildings.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl (9 comments total) 37 users marked this as a favorite
 
This is excellent!
posted by Secretariat at 10:53 AM on July 4, 2018 [1 favorite]


There's already a free condom system?

Don't get me wrong, a free condom system is extremely good. And this is also extremely good. But it's telling which of them came first.
posted by kafziel at 12:57 PM on July 4, 2018 [9 favorites]


Oh, man! My current employer - a big software company in WA - was the first I encountered to provide freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee period products in the bathroom, when I first joined 12 yrs ago. They're even decent quality (unlike our prison quality toilet paper), although I prefer another brand, so I tend to keep my own around.

Still these have saved me from having to run home, from ruined clothes, just kept me generally more productive. Smart employers provide this. I've left and come back to this employer twice, and it's actually one of the things I check when interviewing at other companies - are there free tampons and pads in the bathroom?

Now I've noticed our local NFL/MLS stadium has free products in the bathroom as well. I hope we reach a day where malls and restaurants offer them as well. And if idiots do dumb things like vandalize the bathroom with it, I hope we reach a point where we can walk up to a hostess or an information desk and ask for one, no problem.

Periods are even less voluntary and controllable than peeing. The products should be as available as toilet paper.
posted by taterpie at 1:23 PM on July 4, 2018 [11 favorites]


It’s like charging for loo paper (or for public lavatories themselves for that matter) — a civilized country ought to be able to provide necessary sanitary items for free in public places.

I have no idea what Danielle Rowley herself has spent, but the claim that the “the annual average cost of menstrual products in the UK per person is £500” is likely way off unless it includes a lot of other expenses over and above tampons and pads. More or Less looked into this a few months ago (the relevant section starts at about 3:50 in) and got an average of £3 per month, i.e. £36 per year. Even if they are off by an order of magnitude, which seems unlikely, that’s still way under £500. They explain their working, so you can sanity check their figures.

The problem with vastly overstating the cost is that it makes the cost of providing pads and tampons for free seem unreasonable, whereas if you use a more accurate cost providing them seems much more reasonable.
posted by Quinbus Flestrin at 1:48 PM on July 4, 2018 [2 favorites]


Her actual quote is 'the cost of a period'. The article drew the correlation to sanitary products. She may have been including missed wages due to ruined trousers or hellish cramps, or gas money to run out and purchase emergency supplies (including new underwear). It would be nice to see what that number comes from in her mind, though.
posted by taterpie at 3:52 PM on July 4, 2018 [4 favorites]


Yes, you’re quite right that it was the article and OP that made it seem that the costs she was talking about were directly related to the sanitary products, and I am definitely not suggesting that the costs are necessarily restricted to tampons and pads, even if she, in typical politician fashion, was flinging about a scary, unsourced, undefined statistic to make a point.

I still stand by my contention that making it sound like it would cost £500/year per person using them to put tampons and pads in public lavatories makes it seem totally unaffordable. Whereas the final link suggests that Holyrood is expecting to spend somewhere between £47 and £72 per year per toilet. That is less than £1.37 per week at the upper end of the estimate. It’s fair, it’s reasonable, and it’s affordable; they should do it everywhere.
posted by Quinbus Flestrin at 5:30 PM on July 4, 2018 [1 favorite]


If we're talking just products £500 sounds high, but 36 seems very low to me.

Now I have to go see how they measured what you need because it seems like they said 12 months x £3 (one box) = 36 ... And that's not really how it works for me.

More like 1.5 box of tampons plus pads x every four weeks (13 not 12) = 97.5

...

In any case this is a great initiative. At the university where I work a student initiated a "period posse" to get menstrual products to shelters. My office had a drop box and it was great. Lots of guys went out and bought tampons or got involved in organizing, actually, and that was great to see; a big shift in the taboo.
posted by chapps at 7:29 AM on July 5, 2018 [1 favorite]


Whoops, yes, probably £39/year using their assumptions. More or Less does explain their calculation, which is based on item price and not cost per box. While their assumptions seem generally reasonable (and they are being made by the women on the programme not the male presenter) I too suspect that for all sorts of reasons it is low for many women (wastage; having to buy smaller, more expensive per item packages when out; preferring the performance of a name brand over own brand; their estimate of number used is definitely going to be off for some individuals...). But even if they are off by a factor of two, which is probably high, the direct cost for pads and tampons is £78/year.

Providing free pads and tampons in public lavatories would of course help drive down the out of pocket costs for individuals, and would help the poorest most. I know that the Tories seem to like punishing the poor, poor women doubly so, but providing this service wouldn't even be that expensive and the gain in social welfare would be huge.
posted by Quinbus Flestrin at 9:10 AM on July 5, 2018


More of these sort of initiatives please!

And at the risk of mansplaining, I assume everyone knows about the related tampon.club?
posted by amcewen at 9:42 AM on July 5, 2018


« Older Tragedy or comedy, probably publicity   |   putting boning in a binder Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments