Bringing the Fight for Period Dignity to the Scottish Parliament.

Last week, Sanitree participated in a ‘Third Sector Circle’ for organisations across Scotland working for period dignity, where we heard from Monica Lennon MSP on the progression of the hard-fought ‘period poverty’ bill through parliament. Today, 28th October, the Bill is due to be presented to the Committee at Holyrood. 

The Period Products (Free Provision) Bill will be subject to consideration by the Local Government and Communities Committee, overseen by Cabinet Secretary Aileen Campbell MSP, marking the next crucial step towards guaranteeing universal access to period products for all menstruating people.

Back in February, Sanitree culminated its ‘Free for All. Period.’ campaign with a rally outside the Scottish parliament, in solidarity with Ms Lennon MSP and supporters. The team sat in on the debate which saw MSPs vote overwhelmingly in favour of the general principles of the Bill (for more details on the national campaign, visit periodpoverty.scot, and for a live tweet thread of the debate, see Sanitree’s Twitter). This landmark vote secured Scotland’s footing as a world-leader in menstrual wellbeing reform and was a hard-won feat of both grassroots organisation and cross-party concordance. However, there was no illusion that the work was over.

  Periods don’t stop for pandemics; the mechanisms of the Bill are needed now more than ever to meet the needs of the growing ‘precariat’. Asked whether the demographic of those experiencing period poverty has changed in the context of coronavirus, charities at last week’s Third Sector Circle responded that it hasn’t, it’s just that more people are being pushed into it. Under the double bind of a pandemic and a recession, service-users are facing increased vulnerabilities, with groups highlighting the lack of provision for primary school students under the current policy and endemic difficulties reaching people in isolation.

There have been some incredible initiatives – PKAVS launched their own ‘Tampon Taxi’ to provide a mobile delivery service to those most in need in Perth and Kinross. But all of this work needs sustainable funding and a robust legislative substructure.

The existing policy, whilst demonstrably improving access to period products for those in the education system, has some serious blind spots which only continue to reassert themselves. Across the border in England, Westminster’s newly instated ‘opt-in’ system for product provision is already meeting criticism after reports in August indicated that under 40% of state schools had placed orders since the scheme launched. Monica Lennon MSP’s new bill would not only make it a legal requirement for educational institutions to provide free products, but would also enshrine the principle of free provision into law, giving government the mandate to enforce and expand it into other areas, such as community centres, libraries and workplaces. 

In all avenues of our work at Sanitree, we seek to realise the principles of period dignity: universality, accessibility and freedom of choice. We wholeheartedly support The Period Products (Free Provision) Bill in its capacity to deliver on these goals for menstruating people.

As MSPs consider the bill in more detail over the coming weeks, we join groups across Scotland in following its progress, with a particular focus on delivery mechanisms. We encourage all those who support our work to join us. A daily list of amendments will be made available on the Period Products (Scotland) Bill page.

The points raised in the February debate ring truer than ever – that people having to go without, or buy period products at the expense of other household essentials, is not a peripheral issue.