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Diversity Gazette: Issue #65, March 2024
Understanding Menstrual Equity By Makayla Hipke
If you menstruate, you’ll spend an average of 2,535 days of your life—nearly seven years!—on your period.1 How you experience menstruation, however, is very different depending on where you live, your income level, your age, and many other factors. And while menstruation may be common, it is still most often greeted with shame, silence, and even disgust.
Today, there is a growing movement to fight back against period stigma. Medical providers, public health professionals, and activists use the term menstrual equity to describe equal access to menstrual hygiene products and education about periods and reproductive health. Period poverty is a lack of access to menstrual hygiene products and adequate sanitary facilities. In the U.S., some populations are more likely to experience period poverty,
including students, people experiencing homelessness, and people who are incarcerated.
Period products are a basic hygienic necessity for many people to participate in society, much like toilet paper in a public bathroom. Yet one in four people who menstruate
struggle to afford period products.2 Some parts of the U.S. have made improvements in the fight for menstrual equity, but a great deal of work remains. In North Carolina, period products are still subject to sales tax; however, free access to menstrual products in correctional facilities is now codified into law.3 The state also launched a Feminine
Hygiene Products Grant for public schools, though total funds are currently limited to $250,000 each fiscal year.4
We can’t fix period poverty alone, but that doesn’t mean we are powerless. One step we can take is to make the spaces around us more equitable for people who have periods. This can start with our workplaces, schools, churches, businesses, and other organizations.
Last year at the School of Government, a small group of faculty and staff launched a pilot program to stock seven locations around our building with free pads and tampons.
Our building hosts a unique set of visitors that includes employees, students, and thousands of public officials who journey to Chapel Hill for training, professional development, and other opportunities. Many of these individuals are far from home, and there are few retail
options nearby with period products available.
Now consider this: 86 percent of people who menstruate have started their periods unexpectedly in public. Periods can cause a major disruption to learning, work, and other
activities. We launched this program to uphold our commitment to creating a welcoming environment for all our visitors. The School’s Wellness Committee funds the purchase of these products. Our volunteers track use at each location and keep the product boxes stocked. Over the past four months, our pilot project has distributed more than 300 products! To learn more about how you can support menstrual equity, visit period.org.
1Onabanjo, Julitta. “Celebrating menstruation, from menarche to
menopause.” UNFPA: East and Southern Africa. May 24, 2018.
2PERIOD. 2023. “State of the Period.” Accessed February 28, 2024
3 N.C. Gen. Stat. § 148-25.4
4 N.C. Gen. Stat. § 115C-377
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