UCLA students will soon have access to free tampon dispensers outside of their restrooms as part of a movement to “reduce stigma” surrounding women’s products, school officials say.
The Undergraduate Students Association Council and the Arthur Ashe Student Health and Wellness Center partnered up to provide 1,000 free pads and tampons over-the-counter in November. After the women’s hygiene products were quickly used up, 1,000 more were ordered, and a program was established for new product dispensers to be installed outside restrooms on all three floors of the Ashe Center within the next few weeks.
“Products will still be available on counters, but this way anyone who wants to get the products in private has that option,” Soz Mirza, the Center’s public relations director and fourth-year biology student, told UCLA’s student paper.
“The Ashe Center is committed to reducing the stigma surrounding feminine hygiene products and increasing access to these essential items for half our Bruin population,” the Ashe Center’s outreach manager said.
UCLA’s LGBT Resource Center was the first to provide students with free pads and tampons, and the pressure to add a vending option for menstrual products at Ashe Center has grown since. In the past, female and male-identifying-gender-non-conforming-female students have protested the fact that tampons and menstrual pads are not free to the public, and are calling this financial ‘burden’ a “pink tax” — an added charge the students believe they are unfairly paying because of their gender.
“If you need one of these products and don’t have one, it can be a really big problem,” third-year sociology student Alyssa Perel told UCLA’s student paper. “This is a great investment, especially if girls can’t afford them or don’t have the time to run home and get them for themselves.”
The school will spend $10,000 in total on the program, and plans to subsequently expand efforts to other parts of the UCLA campus.
