Donation drive battles the menstruation taboo
The woman was begging for money, same as every day. But this time, as Scarlet Bjornson reached to find some change, she asked the woman why.
The answer was both mundane and shocking: she wanted alcohol but needed tampons.
“I had never, ever thought of that,” said Bjornson, at that time a real estate agent living in Mill Woods. Bjornson went to her car, gave the woman her emergency stash of menstrual products, and that evening started planning a donation drive.
“Ninety-nine per cent of the people I talk to, they haven’t thought of it either,” she said as she prepared to launch the second annual drive this month.
It’s a deeply personal need, tied up with such emotion. But response has been strong and No Women Without now has more than a dozen donation locations across the city. They’re collecting pads, tampons and menstrual cups throughout February to restock shelves at Bissell Centre, Win House and other crisis organizations.
Perhaps this is a strange thing to read about in a local newspaper, but No Women Without is the second Edmonton non-profit formed recently specifically to collect menstrual products. It’s part of growing awareness of the need and global discussion on breaking the stigma around menstruation.
Women, girls and trans people who don’t have a supply risk infection when they use a product for too long or resort to using tightly rolled wads of toilet paper, Kleenex or hand towels. Low-income girls who can’t access enough products are likely to miss school. Any woman surprised by an unpredictable period in public faces a desperate scramble.
Now in addition to the donation drives popping up across North America, lawmakers are getting involved. New York City made pads and tampons free in public schools, correctional facilities and homeless shelters in 2016.
In Canada, then-Toronto mayor John Tory declared last May 28 Menstrual Hygiene Day, and city council supported a pilot project with Shoppers Drug Mart to offer free menstrual products to homeless women.
At the federal level, the New Democrats passed a resolution at their 2018 annual convention to make menstrual products free in all public washrooms, in the same way that toilet paper is free. That’s a long way from the federal debate of 2015, when after 24 years Ottawa finally agreed to exempt menstrual products from GST.
In Alberta, menstrual products are free in jails, most schools have supplies at the office, and there are free or inexpensive products in washroom dispensaries.
It’s the homeless shelters where people struggle most. Many people don’t think of donating them, so they’re tightly rationed.
For a trans person, asking for menstrual products at a homeless shelter can mean outing yourself in a dangerous situation, said Celena Campbell, who formed a local chapter of All Cycles with a trans friend, Cosette Dubrule. They’ve collected 10,000 packages from nine drop-off locations in the past year and restocked the shelves at the Elizabeth Fry Society,
Old Strathcona Youth Society and others.
Campbell said the real aim is to raise awareness and eliminate the stigma so men who don’t menstruate consider the issue. It’s frustrating to think schools and health centres have bowls of government-funded free condoms and a women in crisis can only get two tampons at the front counter.
That small amount might not last until the morning.
Think about it: what’s the difference between providing cheap toilet paper in a public or employee washroom and supplying an emergency pad?
Having soap and water in a public bathroom is a public health requirement meant to reduce the spread of germs.
But if you don’t have toilet paper, that’s a private health issue and huge inconvenience. Same with an emergency menstrual pad.
To accommodate women staying in shelters, working in a
private office or participating in public life, most governments and businesses could add this to the toilet paper budget and barely notice.
When I heard Bjornson’s story, I had the same emotional reaction: shock and horror. Then I puzzled about it for a week, loath to think I would side with adding more cost to business and government.
But I can’t get over the similarity to toilet paper.
If public washrooms stocked backup menstrual pads, you’d see costs come down. Someone would make a cheap version, just as they make cheap toilet paper. Most people would still bring their own supplies, but no woman or trans person would have to leave a public hearing, for example, before their chance to speak just as they don’t have to leave city hall to use a washroom.
What No Women Without and All Cycles are doing is admirable. But it’s really just a Band-Aid.
Women, men and trans people are now welcome to participate equally in public life, so all their basic needs should be considered in a public washroom, too.