Have you ever unexpectedly started your period in public just to realize you didn’t have any products on hand? At one point, we have all been in this situation, leaving us with no other option than to ask a stranger, “Do you have a pad or tampon that I can borrow?”
Experiencing this myself has led me to wonder why public restrooms don’t have a basket of feminine hygiene products, especially in universities and school districts. It doesn’t need to be a lot, it just needs to be there and available. Women are often too afraid to ask others for products, leading to leakage and embarrassment, even though periods are natural processes for all women.
For most university health centers, they are more concerned with passing out free condoms or pregnancy tests instead of feminine hygiene products. Why are health centers more concerned with preventing pregnancies than helping women have access to period products? Many women spend hundreds of dollars every year on feminine hygiene products. Some people don’t have the ability to spend that much money, causing them to limit how many pads they go through every period. In situations where households have more than one woman, the steep cost of feminine hygiene products is heightened even further. At Walmart, a pack of 50 pads cost around $12. If a woman buys one pack of pads per month, the total annual cost for pads would be around $144. This cost could be doubled or tripled in a household with multiple women.
I propose that more organizations and individuals donate period products to be used in free baskets in public restrooms. You never know what someone may or may not be able to afford, and every woman should have access to necessary period products. There should also be more advocacy at universities for free period products. We need to convince universities that women’s needs for feminine hygiene products are just as necessary as the need for condoms and pregnancy tests. This advocacy will create lasting change and make sure that no woman is left without available period products on campus again.