Free Sanitary Pads For Students In France

On Tuesday, the government of France announced that it will make period products free for students, thereby joined the global drive to end period poverty.

Period poverty is the inability of menstruating persons to pay for the products required for maintaining menstrual hygiene. Frederique Vidal, the Higher Education Minister of France, said that students residences will now have machines that will contain period products such as sanitary napkins. The health services in universities will also have them in the next few weeks.

Vidal said that the government of France aims to make period products “completely free of charge” for everyone by the time the next academic year starts in September.

Emmanuel Macron, the President of France had earlier promised to address the issue of homeless women devoid of period protection. He said, “the fact of having your period in the streets and not be able to buy something protect yourself and preserve dignity adds to humiliation.”

Scotland was the first nation to make period products free for everyone. Soon the world took a cue and slowly started following. England, New Zealand and now France have taken bold steps to end the menace of period poverty, and we can’t be happier.

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