Feminine Products in EHS (or lack-there-of)
STORY BY: Tristen Heldstab
In all, if not most public restrooms, you should be able to find a feminine product dispenser. EHS has three designated women’s restrooms for students and you’ll find a machine in each. But it’s pretty likely you won’t find the machines filled. And even if they were filled, it still costs money to get anything out of the machine. The lack of feminine products contributes to the issue of “period poverty.”
According to ActionAid, period poverty is the lack of “Access to sanitary products, safe, hygienic spaces in which to use them, and the right to manage menstruation without shame or stigma, is essential for anyone who menstruates.”
Charging for these hygiene products isn’t fair and doesn’t make sense. In an interview Maria Molland, CEO of THINX, is against charging for tampons, pads, or any other sanity products.
“Imagine if students were responsible for bringing their own toilet paper to school. That would be ridiculous, but so is not providing tampons and pads for those who have periods,” she says.
Senior, Caitlin Beets agreed. “In the four years that I’ve been at EHS, I have never seen the machines filled. And even if they are filled, I still don’t think it should cost the students money to be supplied with these essentials.”
Beets along with other students at EHS have learned that it’s just safer to carry your own products anyway.
“I always keep something on me, and if I don’t, I atleast know a friend will more than likely have something.”
And if a friend weren’t to have anything on them, students could always resort to the nurse’s office. In the office, a cabinet is filled with feminine products for student usage. As great as this is, it just seems more convenient for the restrooms to be filled so students don’t have to get across the school for a tampon. As of recently, some of the restrooms have been supplied with boxes of tampons, pads, etc. Rather than filling the machines, the boxes are put on top of the machines and are currently free for student usage. This is a step toward getting rid of the payments for products and may be the start to entirely getting rid of the machines at the high school.
