Tilburg University students will never have to pay for menstrual products again, at least if it is up to student party Student Party SAM. A menstrual cabinet has been installed in the gender-neutral toilet in the CUBE university building, where students and staff can get free tampons or sanitary towels in case of an emergency.
Apart from a little stomach ache, it’s a carefree day. You get on your bike with your backpack, because your lecture at the university is about to start. You sit down in the lecture hall and then you feel it. You run to the toilet and there is immediately the confirmation: it is that time of the month. Recognizable? For many people with a uterus, yes.
In any case, Tilburg University students no longer have to worry. Thanks to the student party, free menstrual products are now always nearby. And that is badly needed, says chairman Noortje Zegers. She walks through the campus every week with new sanitary towels and tampons to replenish the closet.
“One in ten Dutch women has no money to buy menstrual products. This includes women aged 18 to 24, the age of many of our students,” explains Noortje.
According to Noortje, free menstrual products are not only important for poor students, but also for women who are attacked with them and have nothing with them. “Nobody needs to bring their own toilet roll to campus, so why should sanitary pads? Unfortunately, there is still a taboo on menstruation and students can now take such a product off the shelf without asking.”
It remains to be seen whether students actually make use of it. The campus has recently been fully open again and Noortje sees that this is indeed happening. “I think it’s something a lot of women don’t think about. Now that it’s available for free, we hear from many students how grateful they are. We do not notice that it is being abused, which is also very reassuring.”
At the moment, the free products can only be found in the gender-neutral toilet of the CUBE university building. If it turns out to be successful, Noortje hopes that the cupboard will soon hang in the toilets of all university buildings.