The Sanitization of Sanitary Pads at School

By: Sienna Lovelock-Burtt

PSA: This article will primarily focus on those who menstruate. This is mainly experienced by those who identify as women, but not always. The experience of those who menstruate, and the gender inequality are closely linked at the school, so when I examine this, I’ll often talk about the experience of girls or women. This is not meant to be exclusionary.

Menstruation is an issue in our school. The school, by taking on female students, has agreed to provide for us in our education, and our safety. Providing sanitary products is part of that responsibility.

I’ve personally had girls – both people I did and didn’t know – come and ask me for a sanitary product, knowing if I had one I’d give it to them. I value that sense of community, but it shouldn’t be necessary. This community is formed under duress. Sanitary products, be they pads or tampons, should not be something that have to be secretly traded, or asked for. They should be freely available, and a non-concern in the educational lives of the girls in our community.

Every girl has had the experience of being in class, or in a bathroom, or (the worst) in the middle of a test, and realising that their period has started. One person I talked to remembers realising they started menstruating when they stood up after a class, and saw a bloodstain on a seat. Almost without exception, every girl I talked to has been in a situation where they weren’t expecting their period, or had forgotten products at home, and had to work out alternative solutions. They should not be working out how to get across campus to the nurse’s office, or how to subtly ask five friends instead of pursuing an equitable education.

The school, by not providing us with safe, secure, private access to sanitary products is violating its duty of care. The reason there’s a lack of provision can be tied to both a lack of funding (which can be found, given UWCSEA’s resources and values) and stigma.

As a poll from 2016 within the school community showed, the community responded positively for widespread access to sanitary products in bathrooms and would use them if they were available. So why isn’t there widespread product availability?

When I was in the Student Council, I tried to make the products more available. There were pad and tampon dispensers in two places across campus (in the bathroom next to the tent plaza, and near the library). When I asked about them, I was told they weren't used. I pointed out that maybe it wasn’t used because it was in a place where anybody could see you retrieving products from it. Instead of moving it to a more sensible location, and removing the cost, I was told that it cost too much money and with the lack of usage would therefore be removed.

Some might argue that most girls in our school have pads or tampons on them, and therefore the introduction of free products is an unnecessary expense. From both personal experience and what other girls in our school have told me, you only get to that point because the first few times you forgot a pad, or didn’t know you were on your period, were scary and hard, and people failed you. No eighth grader panicking in the bathroom wants to go all the way down to the clinic, to ask for a sanitary product in front of peers she doesn’t know. No ninth grader wants to walk to the college shop and spend her money on a necessity. There is an established community desire (and need) for access to sanitary products in bathrooms.

One girl told me about realising she didn’t have any pads or tampons on her, when her period started. She asked to go to the bathroom, when she was in class in the art block, and sprinted all the way to the college clinic for a pad and back, because she didn’t want anyone to know she was on her period. It was a moot point, because someone from her advisory was in the clinic anyway.

Another girl told me about getting her period for the first time and calling her mother and asking her to take her home, because she felt embarrassed and unprepared – she was sure that she was going to stain the back of her skirt.

These aren’t isolated stories, but there is a relatively straightforward solution. East Campus is implementing a trial period of having pads and tampons freely available in bathrooms. Hopefully, our school will be at a similar place soon. However, our community should be using this time to ask ourselves why this issue has gone unaddressed for so long. There is still stigma surrounding menstruation – in the sex-ed lessons provided by the school, there was more time spent on ‘busting the myth of blue balls’ than there was on the health aspects of puberty – periods, sex, and pregnancy. This is information that we need to be focusing on, for health reasons, and also to create a better (and safer) community environment for all genders and sexualities.

These products should be free, as to prevent access to money (particularly for younger students) from being a barrier to period product access. They should be private, because otherwise, students who need them will hesitate to use them. And the pads and tampons should be accessible to all the students who need them.