Menstrual products are a necessity, not a luxury. Period. However, menstrual products at Penn are neither cheap nor accessible. Our school campus has a responsibility to its students and can do better. As such, the Undergraduate Assembly (UA) and the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly (GAPSA) are calling upon the University of Pennsylvania and President Gutmann to ensure free tampons and pads in women’s and gender neutral bathrooms by implementing policy to do so. The UA and GAPSA need members of the Penn community to express their support for this initiative by signing the letter that addresses this pressing issue.
Periods should not be taboo. And yet, too often they are. In multiple traditional cultures worldwide, the word “menstruation” remains shrouded in stigma: it is viewed as an “unclean” occurrence rather than a natural biological phenomenon. Talks of menstruation are kept silent, whispered between girls and women only behind closed doors. Even in cases when the topic is discussed out loud, society seems ignorant. This lack of awareness and acknowledgement can keep women in developing countries out of school or even work. Girls drop out of grade school because they have neither private bathroom spaces at school nor cheap and hygienic menstruation products on hand. Women in the workplace face considerable stigma from employers surrounding their periods, and are often forced to complete their tasks in extreme discomfort and pain in order to risk not getting fired.
Though this issue is beginning to gain traction with governments and NGO, there still is much to be done.. On the individual level, there are many ways in which each of us can pitch in to raise awareness about the issues women worldwide face regarding menstruation. Penn’s own sophomore Claire Sliney recently won an Oscar for Best Documentary Short Subject Period. End of Sentence, a documentary on Netflix she co-executively produced. Proclaiming that “a period should end a sentence – not a girl’s education,” the film explores the relationship between menstruation and the women of India. Although the Academy Award win suggests that the topic of periods now has a larger platform in global discussion, it is important that we support that conversation and contribute as much as we can to positive change – whether that be globally or right here on campus.
Just as leaps and bounds have been made in the US and around the world, so should we work to increase access to menstrual products and promote the normalization of periods. I urge Penn to take a leadership role and make the discussion surrounding periods more inclusive of all folx who have periods. Many states, such as Pennsylvania and New York, have gotten rid of the tampon tax, a tax that regarded menstrual products as a luxury. Harvard, Brown, and New York public schools have begun to offer free menstrual products in varying parts of their own respective campuses. Penn has made steps in the right direction by offering limited menstrual products at the Women’s Center and at certain residential buildings, but there is so much more that can be done. It is up to us to come together to demand a response from our administration and push for progress on our own campus and in our communities.
Here’s what you can do to help:
1. Sign the UA and GAPSA letter of support!
Support the effort to implement actual policy in order to supply tampons and pads to the school community. Sign it here.
2. Support the Pad Project.
The Pad Project is the non-profit at the heart of the documentary Period. End of Sentence. The organization increases access to pads in developing countries by instituting dispensers. Additionally, these machines provide the women in the area who want to work on it with a steady income.
3. Join or support Penn Period Project.
Penn Period Project is an on-campus club that aids people in Philadelphia who cannot afford menstrual products (primarily homeless women) by providing the products for free.