Should feminine hygiene products be free?

[PeasOff]

What do you think?

Obviously that would then bring up the logistical side of things such as how to get them/how often you get them ect...

No, we all need to learn how best to take responsibility and provide for our needs. For those who need extra support there is a welfare safety net.

It's both. You can get calpol for your children too if you can't afford it.

Can get them free in Scotland, they should be free everywhere. Prescriptions are free in Scotland for everyone also.

Well manufacturing and producing them isn’t free so who should pay for them? Our debt ridden government?

Threads like this really show a total lack of awareness about the economic state of the country. People’s expectations about what the state should provide are ridiculous.

https://www.gov.scot/policies/poverty-and-social-justice/access-to-free-period-products/

I thought they had stopped this a few years ago im sure i saw a list off things drs will no longer prescribe. Unless they where just talking about it and it never happened

No.

Because by ‘free’ you presumably mean ‘paid for by the taxpayer’. Taxes are already far too high. Government already confiscates & spends far too much of people’s money. Radical tax cuts for workers on average & middle incomes paid for by massive benefit cuts would put more money into people’s pockets which they could then choose to spend on goods & services as they wish.

Because by ‘free’ you presumably mean ‘paid for by the taxpayer’.

Obviously. They are not "free" in Scotland, they are funded by everyone here who pays tax. And what "free" means is that there is usually a wee bin in the ladies loos with a selection of products if you need them. Mostly in public buildings, also some employers have chosen to take part, we were in a National Trust property last weekend which had them. It's not that every Scottish woman of menstruating age can go into Boots or the supermarket and pick up what she needs free, or get them on prescription.

And also very obviously, if you are spending money on freebies like tampons, towels, baby boxes, prescriptions - and the latest "brainwave" a free school bag for every child starting school - then the money has to come from somewhere. Which is why many people in Scotland pay much more tax than they would on the same salary in the rest of the UK, and there are constant protests about underfunding of the NHS, schools etc.

Newish to MN, is this board not for questions/debates as well? The OP isn't my personal opinion (put mine in the comments) just an opportunity for others to voice their opinions on it and see what people think.

One of my sons is really angered by period poverty and when we go the supermarket always donates a few packs of sanitary towels in the donation box for food banks. He’s only 10 so sees it as a huge injustice.
I think it started when we watched an episode of sort your life out and a bloke was collecting sanitary supplies for homeless women or something.
I think in schools they could maybe have a system where they’re provided free? I remember needing to use toilet paper because we didn’t have money for towels.

Of course sanitary products should be made available.

I do mind a lot of the freebies that SNP give away at taxpayers expense. Sanitary products - I do not mind.
I recently was on a trip, got my period earlier, bathroom in a cafe had free products. I was relieved.

Period poverty is real.

that’s why schools and colleges and public buildings in Scotland stock free products in their loos.

and so do lots of commercial places now as well.

I've never used it but as far as I can see the Minor Ailments scheme still exists. If so, it wouldn't be hard at all to add period products to it.

They're generally provided at foodbanks, together with shampoo, loo paper etc, so there is some support out there.

I agree with this - there’s a strong argument for treating it in the same category as toilet paper in the sense that of course it should be provided in a toilet, even though technically, you could bring your own.

Pads and tampons are provided in my work bathroom. It’s just a regular pad and a regular tampon, so may not be everyone’s required type, but suitable enough for most people to use in a situation where they need one unexpectedly.

I suppose there’s a theft risk that isn’t present with toilet paper. But if a child takes a handful of tampons from a school bathroom, I’d assume they need them. And it’s not like kids never waste toilet paper, but we don’t use that as a reason to make them bring their own.

Well toilet paper is free to the user in a wide range of places (schools, workplaces, shops, restaurants, train stations - anywhere with a free toilet).

That’s not period poverty though, that’s just straight up poverty.

A pack of own brand pads is 41p, they practically are free. The solution isn’t for the government to invent some scheme to make this particular item free to the user, it’s to fix the problem of women and girls being so poor they don’t have 41p.

People can’t afford these things because housing costs are so high, not because pads are expensive.

Only resusable products. Every sanitary towel, just like nappies, takes 1000 years to break down. I would resent my tax money contributing to the pollution and disgusting waste caused by these products.

This was what I thought. However having a child is a choice, but having a period isn't. They perhaps should be a fixed price or free for people on low incomes?

Everybody needs nappies, toilet paper, clothes, food etc but only 50% of the population need sanitary protection.

So there is a cost borne from having a functioning uterus and I think that's the point of the post. We didn't ask for it, we don't want it but we have to pay it.

It doesn't feel fair that half the population has to pay for something they need while the other half don't have that expense. It also doesn't feel particularly fair that the other half should pay for something they don't need either.

I don't know what the answer is!

Just bulk buy like everyone else.

It's not necessarily being so poor they can't afford 41p it's about access to money they might be being controlled to the penny and their abuser refusing them access to such "luxury" products.

I feel lucky that I can buy products like this without a second thought whether I pick an extra pack up etc I have fairly easy periods with little to no pain but if I also needed pain medication that's another few quid and ladies who have heavy ones might need the brand ones etc and need to swap more so it really adds up.

Who do you think will buy the raw materials and work for free to manufacture them? Who will pay the factories’ electricity and water bills?

The Govt buys them in bulk from the manufacturers 🤔