Starting this week, free menstrual products are being offered in six secondary schools in the City of Brussels via distribution machines in a bid to tackle menstrual poverty.
Menstruating costs, on average, €12 euros per cycle. The cost of menstrual products has long been the subject of debate, especially regarding period poverty, when a person does not have enough money to purchase products such as sanitary pads, tampons or period cups.
Scotland recently became the first country in the world to make menstrual products free with a law that obliges educational institutions and local authorities to offer menstrual products for free. The City of Brussels is following its example, starting in secondary schools.
"Menstrual products are recognised as basic necessities in Belgium, but in practice, they remain expensive," Ans Persoons, Councillor for Dutch-language Education in the City of Brussels.
"Not all our pupils have enough money to buy them every month. This can be accompanied by stress and embarrassment. By offering free menstrual products at school, we ensure that pupils do not have to worry about this in the first place," she added.
Staying home during period
In many cases, one in eight girls and women between 12 and 25 do not have enough money to buy period products, a figure that increases to 45% among those living in poverty, a study by Caritas Flanders showed.
Some borrow tampons and pads from friends, others go on their own with homemade alternatives, which increases the risk of infections. Some girls stay home from school.
The need for free period products was also highlighted by the increase in the number of packages distributed by organisations like BruZelle, which collects period products to be distributed anonymously.
Awareness raising
The cities of Aarschot and Ghent already launched a pilot initiative offering free products in schools, while another pilot project was launched in the provinces Namur, Hainaut and Liège to hand out 2.5 million sanitary pads for people in precarious situations.
As part of the most recent initiative, launched on the International Day of the Girl, Persoons announced that a total of 25,000 free organic menstrual products will be made available in the six schools via vending machines starting this week. The project will be evaluated and will be expanded if it is deemed successful.
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Besides the vending machines, the schools also plan awareness-raising actions to make menstruation and menstrual poverty more discussable.
The schools where the pilot project is being rolled out include Hoofdstedelijk Instituut Anneessens Funck - TSO/BSO (NL), Hoofdstedelijk Instituut Anneessens Funck - OKAN (NL), Institut Bischoffsheim (FR), Athénée Léon Lepage (FR), Institut De Mot-Couvreur (FR) and Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts (FR).
