Dear Neighbor,
Last week, on Thursday, October 26, the Senate passed our menstrual equity bill - unanimously for the second time.
This simple bill requires that free menstrual products be available in schools, prisons and shelters in readily accessible locations and in a way that minimizes any stigmatization. The bill was made possible by the extraordinary organizing of the Massachusetts Menstrual Equity Coalition which includes more than 70 organizations and hundreds of activists.
Across the state, so many young people, particularly high school students, have organized local drives and policy campaigns to provide products in their high schools.
High School Students spoke up
This issue wasn't on my mind until I went to a meeting of Somerville High students. A team of girls was trying to get the high school to put free menstrual products in the restrooms. They said that if their periods started unexpectedly during school they didn't have time to rush to the nurse's office, hoping there were supplies there, then head to the restroom, then to the next class. Passing periods between classes were already too short. They said sometimes they missed class or a day of school if they didn't have products with them or at home, or if they bled through their clothes.
Shortly after that, I visited Medford High'sCenter for Citizenship and Social Responsibility program. I saw a poster that said "Free the Pad." A group of girls was working to raise money to put pads in each restroom, and to get Medford to stock free supplies in all restrooms. (At the right, Willa Driscoll and Maya Gomez-Coultas when they were in high school.)
In the first few years of menstruation, periods can be irregular and sometimes heavy. Students say they get them unexpectedly. They may have to call their parents. They're embarrassed if they bleed through their clothes. Over half of Massachusetts school nurses report students missing class or full days of school because they lack access to products.
Seventeen percent of school nurses say they pay with their own money for pads and tampons for students.
People in shelters and prisons menstruate too
By definition people in shelters don't have a lot of disposable income and availability in shelters is unpredictable. A quarter of shelters don't provide products. People experiencing homelessness report infections caused by using tampons and pads for longer than the recommended time or by improvising with paper towels or newspapers.
For people in prison, access to products is restricted and can be used to bargain with or control the person who needs the products. As in shelters, people have to improvise. This should be simple and not humiliating,
Mass. NOW and the Menstrual Equity Coalition
High school and college students all over the state have become activists in this movement. Many of the groups started independently. This reminds me of the spontaneous and massive organizing by high school students for the red flag blll after the Parkland shooting in 2018. (Photos and student reports about that in this newsletter.). If Maine had that law, it might have prevented that recent tragedy.
MassNOW, with the leadership of Sasha Goodfriend, brought those groups of students together with new and existing groups (see list beside first paragraph) in the Mass. Menstrual Equity Coalition, one of the most amazing, inclusive, and creative instances of organizing and coalition-building I've ever seen. They held rallies and forums and consciousness-raising sessions and pop-up art shows. They gathered information on access in schools, jails and shelters, and on what lack of access means. (The photo is of their most recent rally.)
There are so many reasons to make menstrual products easily available, just like toilet paper and paper towels, which are similarly necessary.
A Growing Movement that's Changing the Culture
This is a growing movement across the country. Since we first proposed this bill, 15 states have passed laws to provide free products in schools, 5 for free products in prisons, and one for shelters.
But our bill is the most comprehensive. Once you start thinking about it, the need is obvious.
And the movement is already succeeding in changing the culture! New generations are refusing to think of themselves and their bodies as shameful and embarrassing and dirty. They are saying words out loud that used to be hidden by euphemisms. A few years ago, it would've been hard to imagine legislators talking about periods in the Senate chamber!
Thanks!
Thanks to Sen. Jason Lewis and Rep. Marjorie Decker, chairs of the Public Health Committee, for reporting the bill favorably, as well as Senate President Karen Spilka and Senate Ways and Means for prioritizing it.
The Caucus of Women Legislators made it one of their top five priorities. The Caucus has just decided to offer free products at their State House office!
Now we expect the House to take up the bill; Representatives Christine Barber and Jay Livingstone are the lead House sponsors.
Thanks especially to the hundreds of young people and the Mass. Menstrual Equity Coalition who have educated us about the need for tampons and pads to be freely available without stigma in these public places!
Stay in touch!
Pat Jehlen