Scotland makes history by providing sanitary products for free to menstruating women
Monica Lennon, who introduced the bill in April 2020, said the move will make a massive difference to the lives of everyone who menstruates.
Scotland made history as the first country to provide free and universal access to menstrual products like tampons and sanitary napkins to women of all ages.
The Scottish Parliament on Tuesday unanimously approved the Period Products (Free Provision) (Scotland), Bill. With this development, the government will launch programmes, placing a legal duty on local authorities to make period products available for all.
In 2018, it became the first country to make period products available in schools and colleges.
Nicola Sturgeon, the First Minister of Scotland, took to Twitter, congratulating Monica Lennon, who introduced the bill on April 23, 2020, and has been leading the grassroot campaign for the last four years.
“Proud to vote for this ground-breaking legislation, making Scotland the first country in the world to provide free period products for all who need them. An important policy for women and girls,” Nicola wrote.
In an official statement, she asserted that access to period products is a matter of basic equality, and will promote period dignity.
“This will make a massive difference to the lives of women and girls and everyone who menstruate. There has been a massive change in the way that periods are discussed in public life. A few years ago, there had never been an open discussion of menstruation in the Holyrood Chamber, and now it is mainstream,” Monica told The Guardian.
The global movement against period poverty has increased discussions around it in the last few years.
In India, only 36 percent of menstruating women use sanitary napkin, according to National Family Health Survey 2015-2016. This means, close to 215 million women out of 336 million women of reproductive age and menstruating for two to seven days have no access to sanitary napkins.
Further, the lack of functional toilets in schools causes many young girls to drop out of school when they hit puberty.
Edited by Suman Singh
