Hicham El Ouahabi | No free pads and tampons at the UvA? Shameful
Sanitary pads and tampons are still not available for free at the UvA. Embarrassing, thinks columnist Hicham El Ouahabi. “Unlike going to the toilet and being thirsty, menstruating anno 2024 at the UvA is still ruled by the principle of personal responsibility. A joke, for a university that positions itself as progressive and socially engaged.”
What do toilet paper, drinking water points, sanitary pads, and tampons have in common? Not much at first glance, except that you can consider them all basic amenities. Going to the bathroom, getting thirsty, and getting your period are things you just do not choose for yourself.
So at the UvA, toilet paper, drinking water points, sanitary pads, and tampons are all available free of charge and without limit. Nothing special and totally logical, right?
For those who are paying close attention, however, it is special—special because it is not true. At least as far as pads and tampons are concerned, because at the UvA they are not provided free of charge. Unlike going to the bathroom and being thirsty, menstruating in the year 2024 at the UvA is still governed by the principle of personal responsibility. Embarrassing, or rather, laughable, for a university that positions itself as progressive and socially engaged.
Granted, since 2022, students and employees on UvA campuses can get a package of 16 menstrual products from the vending machine for the paltry sum of 15 cents. One might rightly conclude that there is therefore no problem, given the low price. But let’s not be naïve. The reason behind this offer in the vending machines is not exactly a feat of progressive policy. No, it was (and still is) a reaction disguised as an approach to addressing the emerging challenge of menstrual poverty.
And that deserves both praise and criticism.
Praise because menstrual poverty requires immediate action and making products affordable is better than doing nothing. AND at the same time, it is an outrageous motivation for a university. Because does the university really have to wait until poverty kicks them in the butt and forces them to take action? Shameful.
As if toilet paper and drinking water points were offered to us out of pity or as an act of beneficence. Anything but; they are the product of a certain obviousness, an unspoken norm embedded in our daily lives. The fact that this obviousness and unspoken norm do not apply to sanitary pads and tampons sheds light on how certain things are clearly lopsided. And that these lopsided things are often related to women's issues is no coincidence. But the year 2024 is a conscious choice.
As long as menstruation is a natural aspect of women’s lives, something they do not choose, sanitary pads and tampons should be available in university restrooms as a standard and free of charge. As long as the university provides toilet paper as well as drinking water points, free of charge and without limit, pads and tampons should naturally fall into the same category.
And perhaps reassuringly, one need not belong to the left or the right, nor be a woman or a feminist, to have this insight. A bit of common sense will suffice.
What is the UvA waiting for?
