Scotland became the first country in the world on Monday to make menstrual management products, such as tampons and sanitary napkins, free of charge after the Menstruation Products Act came into force.
This law, promoted by the Labor legislator Monica Lennon, was approved unanimously by the Scottish Parliament in November 2020.
“Menstrual women, girls and people should never face the indignity of menstrual poverty,” the legislator wrote on her Twitter account. “I am proud that we have achieved this in Scotland. We are the first, but not the last.”
From now on, these products will be available for free in public facilities in the country, such as schools and universities. Local authorities and providers are required to make them available, according to a BBC report.
This regulation is not entirely new. Since 2017 this country, part of the United Kingdom, has invested nearly 30 million dollars to provide tampons and sanitary pads in public places.
The British organization Hey Girls conducted a study before the covid-19 pandemic which indicated that one in four women in Scotland had faced period poverty – the lack of access to menstrual management products – at some point, Georgie said. Nicholson, director of the organization, to the BBC.
“There’s a very simple way to describe period poverty: You go to the supermarket and you have to choose whether you can buy a bag of pasta or a box of tampons. It’s that basic,” she said.
The entry into force of the regulations coincides with a marked increase in the cost of living in the United Kingdom, highlights the Spanish newspaper El País.
In June 2022, inflation hit a 40-year high, as consumer prices rose 9.4% in the year to June, compared with 9.1% last month, according to the UK Office for National Statistics.
