The UFV Faculty and Staff Association (FSA) has partnered with the Student Union Society (SUS) in a campaign to bring free menstrual products to UFV’s bathrooms.
The “Go with the Flow” campaign is collecting signatures to request that UFV administration provide free tampons and pads in all UFV bathrooms. The campaign suggests that students shouldn’t have to pay extra to have a basic toiletry that is essential for hygiene, similar to paper towels and toilet paper that is available in bathrooms.
“We have a goal to gather 1,000 signatures on the petition, and to deliver the petition to UFV administration on Dec. 10 (International Human Rights Day), and we’d ideally like to see these products installed within the next fiscal budget,” Melissa Naman, assistant in the office of the dean for access and continuing education and FPSE Human Rights and International Solidarity rep., said.
According to Micheala Reist, SUS pride coordinator, there are many benefits to having menstrual products provided in every bathroom. First, it would help students who need a tampon or pad if they got their period unexpectedly and were unprepared. It would also help those who can’t afford menstrual products. According to statistics from Plan International Canada cited by the campaign, a third of Canadian women have had difficulty at some time paying for menstrual products.
Since these menstrual products would be offered in all the bathrooms, it would help to remove the stigma around the topic of menstruation.
“According to a survey by Plan International Canada, nearly 81 per cent of women under age 25 feel the need to hide that they are bringing a pad or tampon to the bathroom at work or school,” Naman said.
“Because people are too scared to talk about menstruation, they may not feel comfortable asking for help from a coworker or friend, and because there are no products provided in washrooms, that combination can lead to people using inadequate materials such as toilet paper, wearing a tampon for an extended and unsafe period of time, and/or missing work or school altogether. Nobody should be unfairly disadvantaged and have to miss school or work because they don’t have access to these products.”
Free menstrual products are available from Student Life, but that is not easily accessible for all on campus, Naman said. Periods can happen unexpectedly and that is a factor to consider when thinking of providing menstrual products on campus.
The campaign looks to include menstrual products in every bathroom on campus. There are some members of the LGBTQ+ community who may use the men’s bathrooms and need these products.
Reist and Naman hope that the campaign at UFV can influence other universities to follow suit. The government of B.C. has already made it mandatory that all schools (elementary to high school) must have menstrual products in every bathroom, but haven’t made it mandatory in universities. Libraries in Halifax now offer menstrual products in all of their bathrooms and the Liberals made this mandatory in all government-operated offices. Naman said that the petition is orientated only for UFV and due to personal information will not be sent to the government of B.C. Reist said that in the future, she hopes that the government of B.C. or Canada will be paying for this basic need.
“This campaign has mostly been met with overwhelming support,” Naman said.
Image: Mikaela Collins
