Scotland has passed a bill that has made period products such as tampons and pads free to all who need them.
Periods are a biological predisposition of being born a female, and the average female will spend more than 2,500 days, or roughly 7 years, of her life menstruating, but many women and girls around the world cannot afford period products.
The Period Products (Free Provision) (Scotland) Bill, which passed unanimously, requires local authorities to ensure that period products are generally obtainable free of charge. Schools and colleges must ensure period products are freely available to students, and designated public places must also make the products available.
“The campaign has been backed by a wide coalition, including trades unions, women’s organizations and charities,” Monica Lennon, the lawmaker who introduced the bill last year, said ahead of the vote. “Scotland will not be the last country to make period poverty history.”
After the vote, Lennon said the decision was “a signal to the world that free universal access to period products can be achieved.”
At least half a billion women and girls globally lack facilities for managing their periods, according to a 2015 report from the World Health Organization and UNICEF.
In the United Kingdom, the lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated period poverty, with 3 in 10 girls there struggling to afford or access products, according to a report released in May by Plan International, a girls’ rights organization.
In the U.S., where women make up more than half of the population, women are more likely than men to live in poverty, and they spend an average of 2,535 days in their lifetime, or almost seven years, on their periods, according to UNICEF.
