The New York City Council recently voted to pass a package of bills centered around menstrual products, education, access, and language stigmatization. The bills aim to address the disproportionate burden of accessing menstrual products faced by people who menstruate who are living below the poverty line.
All things considered, New York City and State are fairly progressive when it comes to menstrual equity. The city was the first in the U.S. to pass bills mandating that menstrual products be freely available for shelter residents, students, and incarcerated people in 2016 under former Mayor Bill de Blasio. Then the state implemented a ban on “pink tax,” which was basically the practice of overcharging goods or services marketed to women or girls, in 2021 under former Governor Andrew Cuomo.
Still, according to the research, about 1 in 5 teens couldn’t afford period products during the COVID-19 pandemic and that hasn’t changed much in the years since.
The current bills, sponsored by Councilmembers Tiffany Cabán, Amanda Farías, and Carmen De La Rosa, would require that educational materials in schools and jails use the gender-inclusive term “menstrual product” rather than “feminine hygiene product”; products be available for students beginning at the fourth-grade level rather than the sixth; and menstrual cups, a cost-effective alternative to pads, be included in city facilities that have to stock menstrual products.
“Menstrual equity stands as a fundamental pillar of gender justice in New York City,” said Farias in a statement. “Access to menstrual hygiene products is not merely a matter of personal convenience, which far too few women have access to—it is a matter of dignity, health, and equality. The ability to manage menstruation with dignity and without financial burden is an essential aspect of ensuring equal opportunities for all individuals, irrespective of gender, which is a key component of our bill package.”
Speaker Adrienne Adams added that expanding equitable access to menstrual products is definitely a priority. Despite the menstrual equity bills passed in 2016, many girls still do not have access to menstrual products because many begin menstruation before sixth grade, said Adams. Shepointed out that one of Farias’s bills was prompted by a young girl in her district in Southeast Jamaica, Queens. She affectionately referred to it as Sydney’s Law.
The bills have been well-received and commended as a win for menstrual equity, with support from the mayor’s office and other advocate groups.
“The NYC Commission on Gender Equity is committed to advancing gender-equitable policies for our city, and menstrual equity is a critical component of gender and racial equity,” said NYC Chief Equity Officer and Commissioner Sideya Sherman, from the mayor’s equity office, in a statement. “Many people, especially marginalized people who experience poverty [or] housing insecurity, or are justice-involved, also experience period poverty, or the lack of access to menstrual products, related education, or a safe space to manage their menstrual cycle.”
Menstrual activist Cece Jones-Davis said that the passage of these bills by a women-led City Council is “badass and revolutionary, to say the least.” She began her work in activism back in 2014 after learning about the local and global impact of period poverty. At the time, she said, there weren’t a lot of Black women advocating despite being one of the most affected groups. She’s ecstatic about the progress that’s been made for Black and brown people who menstruate.
“This legislation, championed by four women of color, underscores the fact that details really do matter,” said Jones-Davis. “It matters how we talk about an experience common to so many human beings. It matters that nobody is left out—regardless of identity, age, race, socio-economics, or where a person is incarcerated…More than 800,000 people across the world are menstruating on any given day. It matters that we are as thoughtful and inclusive and detailed as possible about honoring people’s right to dignity and healthy menstrual management.”
Jones-Davis said that the language, in particular, is important to destigmatizing menstruation. The “hygiene” part of feminine hygiene products suggests that there’s something “unhygienic” or “unclean” in religious notions about menstruation, she said. She loves the idea of changing the words to make the topic easier to talk about.
The 2023 State of the Period is a study from Thinx and an organization called PERIOD tracking the impact of period poverty. It reports that there’s better communication about the often-taboo subject of menstruation; however, lower-income teens, as well as Black and Hispanic teenagers, are less likely to feel comfortable about dealing with periods at school and adults in their communities “are less likely to feel comfortable communicating about periods.”
“There [are] certainly family trends that are linked to demographic trends about period stigma,” said Michela Bedard, PERIOD’s executive director. “Period stigma isn’t something that’s just in the overall culture. It can be within families and tradition. If it is not spoken about openly to you, from caregivers or family members, at a young age, you may be unlikely to bring it up.”
De La Rosa concurred that reproductive cycles are still a “taboo topic,” which does a great disservice to young people who must face this central experience of their health and human experience in the dark. “No one, especially our city’s youth, should grow up without the materials and education to address their health in a comfortable and supportive setting,” said De La Rosa.
“We welcome the NYC Council being so progressive in addressing menstrual equity in their institutions and hope this is a blueprint for other city councils and states to follow,” said Ina Jurga, founder and international coordinator of Menstrual Hygiene Day, the largest campaign in menstrual health and hygiene, via email. “Menstruation is no choice—and providing menstrual products should be treated the same as providing free toilet paper to all,” said. Her organization, which began in 2014 and is based in Berlin, Germany, doubly supports the legislation and changing the language about period stigma.
Jurga said that the term “menstrual products” is already standard in places like the UK, and has been promoted by retailers and pharmacies like Boots, Asda, and Aldi.
Ariama C. Long is a Report for America corps member who writes about politics for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep her writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://bit.ly/amnews1.