Female soldiers issued with sanitary items
Armed Forces minister ends ‘ridiculous’ situation where tampons are not provided to women
FEMALE Armed Forces personnel serving abroad will no longer need to pack their own sanitary products, as tampons are issued for the first time.
James Heappey, the Armed Forces minister, said tampons and sanitary towels would be available to female personnel in the way other personal care items like sun cream and toilet roll are easily accessed. The former infantry officer announced a “provisions box”, containing sanitary items and spare underwear, would now be brought on operations.
Until now women, who make up 11 per cent of all Armed Forces personnel, had to pack their own supplies prior to being deployed abroad.
Mr Heappey said: “Embarrassingly, hitherto there has been no mechanism for tampons and sanitary towels to come down through the military resupply system; they simply haven’t existed, which is appalling.”
Last year Mr Heappey commissioned the Defence People Menstruation Survey, where serving women fed back what items they would like to see readily available in the system. The provisions box, which will be available to personnel imminently, will likely be sent to camps in Afghanistan, Mali and Cyprus, as well as ships at sea.
Mr Heappey said: “As an ex-infantry officer, I just remember that I was provided in the field with tissues with which to wipe my bum, I was provided with foot powder to make sure that I didn’t get athlete’s foot, I could have insect repellent in tropical climes and suntan lotion.
“Effectively, through the military supply chain, everything that I needed to survive in an austere operational environment was provided, but that amazingly was not the case for women and providing for them on their periods.”
Mr Heappey added that “just as much as there should be loo roll and foot powder and suntan lotion in the system, so should there be tampons and sanitary towels for women who need them while serving operationally”.
He said: “If all parts of the battlefield and all roles within the military, are going to be there for women for serving, I think it’s sort of incumbent on us to be able to provide for them in exactly the same way as we do for men.”
However, Mr Heappey conceded that the provisions box, which will initially be in place for “emergencies”, is only a short-term solution and is currently working to make it commonplace that when camps are placing stock orders, sanitary items can be requested alongside food rations.
He said that it “doesn’t sit easy with me that a period is regarded as an emergency. I mean it happens every 28 days, so it isn’t an unexpected thing”.
The aim is to make it a “business as usual provision” so that “they should just be things that are available as freely in the system”.
“I feel very strongly that if women are to serve successfully in all parts of the Armed Forces, [they need] to feel comfortable serving in all operational environments,” Mr Heappey said, adding that he no longer wants women “worrying” about having to “call for an emergency pack of tampons”.
It comes after female personnel recently told a defence subcommittee hearing on women in the Armed Forces that they had been forced to use socks and bits of paper when they got their period on tour because of the lack of provisions.
Mr Heappey said he wanted to ensure serving women had the “peace of mind” that when they are in an environment where “everything’s run out”, they will now know that they “will be completely provided for”.
“Up until now, women have not been able to have that peace of mind around their periods. I think that’s ridiculous.”