Feminine hygiene products should be free in schools nationwide

Opinion Editor

Each Ohio school district, charter school and chartered nonpublic school will have free feminine hygiene products available in bathrooms by Oct. 1.

For too long, feminine hygiene products have been looked at as a luxury—something desirable, but costly and not always easily accessible. As a result, the total number of individuals unable to obtain period products increases daily. It is time we nationally recognize access to feminine hygiene products as a basic human right—just as we do soap, water and toilet paper.

In US schools alone, 1 in 4 students—particularly students of color, low income students and rural students—are affected by period poverty: the inability to access menstrual products most commonly due to financial constraint and lack of feminine hygiene education.

Consequently, students have reported missing classes or entire days of school because they do not have access to such products. Embedded in the US Constitution is the right to education, but period poverty is depriving people of a full quality education simply because they menstruate.

Every person, regardless of wealth or status, should have the right to proper sanitation. Rooted in the stigma of menstruation, period products are not currently classified as ‘welfare provisions’ by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Because of this, many of those experiencing period poverty suffer from poor hygiene due to an inability to access the sanitary resources they require.

It is estimated that 500 million individualsglobally lack adequate resources for menstrual hygiene management, leading to the use of insufficient and unsanitary substitute materials (such as old cloth) which often cause infections and illnesses.

The stigma surrounding female periods should be combatted, as menstruation is a normal physiological process. Not talking about it creates a lack of awareness and education and may lead to further social stigma. Such lack of understanding is also in part why it has taken as long as it has for these things to be recognized and talked about.

The only way to normalize menstruation is to talk about it. Society has taught us that doing so is wrong, and it has become a topic to avoid in schools, families, and the government.

Most positions of power in the US government are held by people who do not experience menstruation cycles and have not been educated on the subject. This is part of why it has taken our nation so long to successfully propose amendments that will lead to normalizing female menstruation.

In recent years, the US has made strides to get to this point. In April 2020, the Ohio legislature voted to eliminate the “pink tax,” a discriminatory tax that inflated the cost of goods (including period products) marketed to women. Such products were seen as “luxury items” and eligible for taxing because they were not classified as necessities.

More recently, Gov. Mike DeWine signed into law a mandate that would ensure free feminine hygiene products to be accessible to students. Starting October 2023, Ohio will join at least 12 other US states and the District of Columbia in requiring public and private schools grades 6 through 12 to provide these products to students. In total, over 30 US states and the District of Columbia have passed laws easing access to menstrual supplies.

The provision, which was recently enacted into the two-year state budget, will allocate $5 million total. $2 million will be divided among each school district, charter school and chartered nonpublic school for dispensers, and an additional $3 million will reimburse schools for the cost of tampons and sanitary pads.

There has been growth in menstrual equity policy advancements in the US, with the legislation starting to prioritize feminine hygiene in schools—but period poverty spans further than that and a nationwide effort is long overdue.

Opinion Editor

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