Being a woman is expensive — it’s no secret.
What adds to that already high cost? Menstruation.
In the United States, women spend around $3 billion on menstrual hygiene products — mostly tampons — each year, the National Center for Health Research reports.
In one lifetime, a woman will use about 10,000 tampons, according to Huffington Post.
While a variety of options exist, including many reusable items, they aren’t cheap or easily accessible, in some cases.
The ASUI Senate at the University of Idaho recently began surveying a bill last week through VandalSync, gathering student thoughts on restroom receptacles with free menstrual products, starting in the Idaho Commons.
The initiative — started by UI’s Planned Parenthood Generation Action chapter — was spearheaded by Sen. Samragyee Gautam, who would like to see the products placed by the end of November. She also hopes the project will extend to the entire campus one day, if passed.
“I feel like this is such an important issue, and I think that our university should be paying for this, not any club or student organization,” Gautam said in an Oct. 11 Argonaut article.
Gautam is right. Students already have so many things to worry about — affording a tampon shouldn’t be one of them.
Olivia Heersink | Argonaut
No one should have to pay for something they have absolutely no control over.
I, like many women, would rather not go through the painful process of having a period each month, but have no choice in the matter.
Condoms are given out for free across campus. Why can’t the same be done for tampons or pads? Sex is optional — a period isn’t.
Granted, these products often only cost $0.25, but when you’re using several of them a day, it adds up quickly.
Often women are caught by surprise and don’t have a pad or a tampon on hand, let alone a quarter.
Receptacles, such as the ones Gautam proposes, will not only help those who can’t afford these types of products, but those find themselves without one in the moment.
Several colleges across the country, such as Brown University, provide menstrual products free of charge. UI should be one of them.
Gautam said various organizations, in addition to Planned Parenthood, will provide the funding for the project, while the university’s facilities department could execute the actual placement.
She said, individuals have expressed concern students or employees will take too many products since they are free, she said. A concern Gautam doesn’t share, and neither do I.
People are responsible enough to take only what they need, and if that’s 15 tampons compared to two, then so be it.
Women need these types of products, and this initiative would provide them in a safe, hygienic way.
It may seem ridiculous to some, but it’s a simple gesture that could help so many individuals.
Again, periods are hard enough — let’s not make it any more difficult.
Olivia Heersink can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @heersinkolivia