Menstrual product dispenser in the FSU bathroom. (Kate Otterbein / XFM News)
On International Women’s Day, a letter was sent to Premier Doug Ford fighting for free menstrual products in all post-secondary schools. This is a letter that Fanshawe College was proud to take part in signing alongside 44 other Ontario colleges.
“We knew that the Toronto Youth Cabinet was moving forward on a menstrual equity initiative,” says FSU President, Ricardo Souza. “They offered us to sign the letter and of course, right away, we were there to sign the letter because we think it’s important. They also presented some data that was very alarming. One-third of Canadian women under the age of 25 say they are struggling to afford menstrual products. We can see that’s our responsibility to provide these kinds of products to women and transgender people in our community.”
The Fanshawe Student Union (FSU) has offered free period products in their female and non-gendered bathrooms since 2018. This was brought into place by the FSU president at the time, Jahmoyia Smith, alongside the Sexual Violence Prevention Advisor, Leah Marshall.
“How we’ve taken that a step further as a college is a few different things,” says Marshall. “We put sexual health vending machines on campus. Sexual violence prevention and the Student Union worked together to put a vending machine in the student building. Then we also put one in Falcon House residence in the lobby. We knew that students could get the disposable products for free, but we wanted to take it a step further by allowing them to get reusable products at cost.”
The sexual health vending machine in the student building. (Kate Otterbein / XFM News)
The school partnered up with Diva Cup, which is a brand of menstrual cups stocked in the machines. Reusable pads are also available.
“For example, if a student went to Shoppers, they may pay around $39-40 for a cup,” says Marshall. “In the machines, they’re able to get them for $20. We also provide reusable pads in the vending machines as well. These machines aren’t moneymakers, they’re strictly to create better access for students to these products.”
Marshall adds that they also created “Menstrual Mail-Outs”. This allowed students to sign up online for a package that consisted of disposable products, as well as a reusable cup and a reusable pad.
“This was done again as a collaboration between sexual violence prevention and the Student Union. Another reason this was so important is because menstrual products are usually geared towards female-identifying folks. But, we know that people of all gender identifications can experience a period. A lot of the time where you see these products being given for free is in female-identified bathrooms. In order for everyone to have access, we wanted people to be able to sign up for these things so that we could mail them directly to their homes and combat transphobia as well in the process of fighting period poverty.”
Courtesy of Leah Marshall
These mail-outs are something the FSU and Marshall are looking to do again in the near future. The reusable products allow students to consistently have products to use month after month.
“We are here as leaders,” says Souza. “We should think in different common needs. Even though I am a man and sometimes people can question ‘why are you fighting for this?’, I’m fighting for this because I know it’s a need for a fraction of our student population and these needs need to be addressed. So if we have other student leaders not thinking about it, they should because we are here to represent our student population. Based on the report and based on what we can see in our society, this is a basic need for women and transgender people.”
“I do believe that no person should have to miss anything because they can’t afford access to menstrual products,” says Marshall. “As a whole, not only as a college community but as a broader community, access should be more standardized. It would be lovely to live in a world where I would go into any bathroom and be able to access these products.”
For students, Marshall says you have very powerful voices and you can make a difference in your community.
For anyone looking for further support, Leah Marshall, Fanshawe’s Sexual Violence Prevention Advisor, can be reached at lkmarshall@fanshawec.ca.
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