Free Tampons Are Now Available To Teens In NYC - But What About The Rest Of The World?
[Photo: Rex]
Teens in New York are set to have an easier, and cheaper, time during their period, as the state is trialling a scheme at 21 public schools where female students can pick up pads and tampons free of charge.
New York Daily News reports that the city’s Education Department expects the program will reach 11,600 students.
While currently, many schools in the US provide menstrual hygiene products via a school nurse, this is the first time that the products can be accessed for free via a bathroom dispensers. Meaning teens can avoid the often awkward exchange of asking an adult or their classmates when in need.
One student commented: “You feel more confident and don’t feel as nervous,” adding that, “You can just grab it whenever you need it. It’s there for you.”
The pilot scheme is the brainchild of City Councilwoman Julissa Ferreras-Copeland, an expansion of a smaller pilot in Corona, Queens. The initiative is now being trailed in schools in Queens and the Bronx where she feels students are in greatest financial need.
“Girls in these districts face the greatest financial hardships,” Ferreras-Copeland explained. “I want to ensure none of them lose class time, face illness or feel humiliated because their family cannot afford pads.”
New York is one of the selected US states which implement tax on feminine hygiene products, as well as California and Wisconsin. They’re also among the nations where women have campaigned for the products to be made available tax free and free.
In Australia and Canada the governments have pledged support for motions to remove tax on tampons, while in the UK tampons and pads are still subject to 5% VAT - the lowest under EU rules - due to being deemed a “luxury” or “non-essential” item.
The tax has was last debated in Parliament in October 2015 and spawned a string of memes from women mocking claims that tampons are a “luxury item”. Because the idea that the products half our nation need to absorb their menstrual blood every month as a treat is just absurd.
Hopefully the US initiative will be a catalyst to similar schemes in the country and our own. Not to mention highlight yet again that sanitary products are far from a “luxury”.
Do you think UK schools should run a similar scheme? Tell us @YahooStyleUK
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