Period poverty; it’s a real thing. When a family or person struggles to make ends meet each month, the comforts of tampons and sanitary napkins are quickly moved to the back burner in favor of rent and groceries.
Due to the social stigmas surrounding women’s menstrual cycles, this very real need goes unnoticed and unchanged…until now.
Fortunately, Scotland is taking the lead in putting an end to period poverty and bringing the conversation of menstrual-related struggles to the forefront.
The forward-thinking country has created a program specifically to address female students who are missing out on education due to lack of access to sanitary products while menstruating.
Scotland has set aside over 6.5 million dollars USD (£5.2 million) to ensure that every educational institution in the country, including colleges and universities, are equipped to provide free menstrual products to women in need.
The launching of the program comes at the perfect time, too, as it is completely in sync with the beginning of the new school year.
The Scottish government is proud to be able to boast of the fact that they are the first nation in the entire world to provide this progressive program to their roughly 395,000 students.
The “scheme” is launched on the heels of a pilot program carried out in Aberdeen, a city boasting the third oldest city university in Scotland, which was founded in 1495.
Not stopping with just the students, the program also aims to make access to these products freely available to certain low-income areas in the country as well.
The reason Scotland is targeting its schools and universities at the forefront in providing sanitary products to women who can’t afford them? A study, of course.
A research survey recently performed by Young Scot assessed the answers from 2000 women regarding the level of accessibility to sanitary products, and the findings were astonishing.
The survey found that at least 1 out of every 4 student responses in Scotland alone, were unable to access sanitary products when they needed them.
As a harsh result, women were missing out on up to several days of education each month, for fear of going out due to their inability to afford tampons and/or sanitary napkins when needed in a public setting.
Many councils, charities, and organizations have worked with the Scottish government to see that the costly program comes into fruition, including Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (Cosla), Scottish Funding Council, Colleges Scotland, and Universities Scotland.
In an interview with the EveningExpress, Cosla president, Alison Evison, notes that not only will the program meet the needs of students who suffer from period poverty, but it will also help eliminate the stigmas surrounding open discussion on the topic.
“While the primary aim is to ensure no young person misses out on their education through lack of access to sanitary products, it will also contribute to a more open conversation and reducing the unnecessary stigma associated with periods.”
Evison isn’t the only proud supporter of the social-structure altering program, either.
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Monica Lennon, MSP, who won 2018’s member-voted MSP of the Year Award, recently introduced a private Member’s Bill to the Scottish Labour Party.
The bill is a call to action for the Scottish government to not only make sanitary products freely accessible to students but also “to anyone who needs them.” She proclaims,
“Access to period products should be a right, regardless of your income, which is why I am moving ahead with plans for legislation to introduce a universal system of free access to period products for everyone in Scotland.”
Needless to say, she is elated at the nationwide acceptance of the new period poverty program, as it gives her hope for her own Bill.
“This is another great step forward in the campaign against period poverty…No-one should face the indignity of being unable to access these essential products to manage their period.”
Thanks to the actions of these Scottish leaders, period poverty may soon become a thing of the past.
