Gender Equality and Public Restrooms

When a male-bodied person walks into a public restroom, he can be reasonably certain that he will find the products he needs, such as toilet paper and paper towels, without having to pay for them. But for female-bodied people, there is not always the same guarantee. Some public restrooms stock free menstrual products (tampons and pads), but others don’t have them at all, or provide only machines that require exact change to use. This means that women are often left in the uncomfortable and inconvenient situation of not having the products they need. This week, Election Central takes a look at a high school student in Brookline, Massachusetts, who convinced her city to become the first in the United States to offer free menstrual products in all public buildings.

Period Shaming?

The whole story starts with a girl named Sarah Groustra. Last year, Groustra was a high school senior and wrote an article for her school paper about the problem, which she says is due to a cultural atmosphere of menstruation shaming. In other words, girls are taught from a young age that their periods are shameful, or at least embarrassing, and should be hidden. As a result, girls and women will often go to great lengths to hide that they are menstruating. In her article, however, Groustra argued that other bodily functions, such as urine, are considered neutral and not shameful or embarrassing. And the idea of having to pay for toilet paper would be absurd to most of us. Similarly, she points out, many school nurses will supply free menstrual products–but how would you feel about needing to run halfway around the school every time you needed toilet paper?

According to Groustra, the answer is simple: both female-bodied and male-bodied people need to start treating menstruation like what it is–a normal bodily function. And one way to do that is to supply female-bodied people with the products they need access to when they need it.

Taking it to the Next Level

Groustra’s article was read by Rebecca Stone, an elected member of Brookline’s city council. Stone immediately sat down with Groustra and other Brookline students to write a proposal that Brookline would begin supplying free menstrual products in all of its city restrooms. This would include the town hall, libraries, the recreation center, parks, and eventually the schools as well. (Products will be supplied in all restrooms because some people may have a period even though they don’t identify as female.) On May 23, the proposal passed unanimously.

What’s Next?

Brookline has until July 2021 to install and stock the new dispensers. Boston is considering a similar measure, while statewide laws in California, Illinois, and New York already require menstrual products to be available in public school restrooms. For the men and women who support these laws, it’s about eliminating the shame surrounding menstruation, and encouraging female-bodied people to be proud of their bodies.

Dig Deeper Use Internet resources to help you figure out how much the average American woman pays for menstrual products in their lifetime. What is a “pink tax”? Do you think a “pink tax” is fair? Why or why not?