‘Period dignity’ officer role is ditched after row over man getting job
A PIONEERING ‘period dignity officer’ job – handed to a man – was axed yesterday after an outcry from women’s groups.
Jason Grant, a former personal trainer, was to have earned up to £36,126 for the government-funded post, which involved promoting access to free sanitary products in schools and colleges.
But it was announced yesterday that the role has been scrapped after ‘threats and abuse’ towards individuals. A major backlash had erupted over the decision to appoint a man.
Mr Grant, from Dundee, was also set to discuss issues around the menopause as part of the job,
‘Inappropriate and insulting’
which covered the region of Tayside. But Dundee and Angus College, which is involved in Tayside’s period dignity working group, confirmed the position would not continue.
It asked for a ‘spirit of kindness’ to be extended to those involved in the group, including representatives from Perth College, Angus Council and Dundee City Council.
After Mr Grant’s appointment, former Labour MP and government minister Tom Harris said it was ‘the latest example of how misogyny has been internalised in this new, progressive Scotland’.
Last night, he said: ‘It says something about attitudes to women that the authorities would rather scrap this job altogether than give it to a woman.
‘Making sanitary products free was a great step forward; putting a man in charge of the programme was inappropriate and insulting.’ Yesterday, a spokesman for the period dignity working group said it was looking at ‘alternative ways’ to deliver the services.
The appointment of Mr Grant to the Scottish Government-funded post had sparked an outcry across social media. Former tennis star Martina Navratilova said choosing Mr Grant was ‘f****** ridiculous’, while Susan Dalgety, a columnist and women’s rights campaigner, tweeted: ‘I have no idea why anyone thought it was a good idea to appoint a bloke.’
SNP MP Ian Blackford said at the time that a woman would be better for the role, saying: ‘I think it’s important that we get the policy right, I think it’s important that we implement it and I would have thought, as a principle, it would be far better that women are in these posts than anyone else.’
The advertisement for the job, which appeared last month, stated that the candidate should have a track record of ‘engaging and empowering’ people from different backgrounds and ‘in particular young people who menstruate’. The Scottish Feminist Network said last month that the wording of the job description had been deliberately de-sexed.
A spokesman said: ‘I think you probably need to have some idea of what the problem is that you’re trying to fix. I think the fundamental question is whether the sex of the person is going to have any sort of detrimental impact on who will engage, and if there’s any suggestion it’s a yes... it really should be a female. It’s just too important, particularly if we’re talking about girls who are struggling to get their hands on products or to talk to someone who can help and advise them.’
Mr Grant, who formerly worked as an account manager at Imperial Tobacco, had been appointed on a 24-month secondment from his previous job as student wellbeing officer with Dundee and Angus College.
He previously said being a man would help him ‘break down barriers’ by ‘encouraging conversations across all genders and educating and engaging new audiences’.