Bloody Serious | Addressing period poverty

Free menstrual products at UM

Inspired by the new legislation in Scotland and similar developments in New Zealand to end period poverty, our initiative aims at providing free menstrual products for students and staff at Maastricht University. Providing free menstrual products are twofold: it will contribute to a more inclusive environment at UM as it will help to break down the period stigma and support people who have difficulties affording menstrual products. Period products are basic and essential healthcare items, therefore, we believe it is necessary that UM provides these free of charge for those in need.

With the D&I grant, we will carry out a one-year pilot study. This includes providing menstrual products in selected restrooms at several UM faculties. One problem is that menstruation is often deemed shameful, aversive, and unclean which contributes to a vicious cycle of silence: the menstrual taboo. Our initiative aims to effectively break this silence by - next to providing menstrual products - creating an educational campaign on the menstruation stigma. This will include workshops and discussions on the menstrual taboo, the need for increased awareness on menstruation, and the issue of period poverty. A monitoring and evaluation component is also part of the project, aiming to identify the long-term implementation possibilities at UM.

We represent the student organization Feminists of Maastricht. In collaboration with staff members Julia and Pieter and UM building manager Roy, we are confident to take on this important task for next year and we are convinced that providing free menstrual products would make UM a more inclusive university.

Contact the team by email.