Providing tangible data to politically counter a phenomenon about which little is known. This was the aim of a ground-breaking study into menstrual insecurity in Europe, presented at an event at the European Parliament, on Tuesday 3 June.
This document, published on the occasion of the dedicated day of 25 May, at the instigation of three MEPs from the Greens/EFA group - Saskia Bricmont (Belgian), Mélissa Camara (French) and Diana Riba i Giner (Spanish) - and carried out by researchers Maria Carmen Punzi and Nicole Spohr, and activist Justine Okolodkoff from the ‘Règles Élémentaires’ association, provides for the first time a European overview of the difficulty of access to sanitary protection and adequate sanitary facilities.
The study also questions the impact of taboos and lack of education surrounding menstrual periods.
There is a need to link the two, as one leads to the other and explains the lack of political consideration for issues that affect a significant proportion of the population.
According to the study, in all the European countries for which data is available, menstruating people - 26% of the EU population - face menstrual insecurity. Rates vary from 10% to 50%.
“What we wanted to do was to objectify the situation. And one of the revelations is that there is a serious lack of data”, Saskia Bricmont told Agence Europe. As in Belgium, where 31% of menstruating people are reportedly living in precarious conditions, the reality is little-known, under-documented and yet widespread.
However, menstrual insecurity is not simply a matter of not being able to buy hygiene products.
It is also to be found in the lack of access to clean facilities and privacy, but also to appropriate menstrual and sexual education, as the Belgian MEP explained to us.
As she reminded us, according to the report, 50% of young Belgians questioned said they did not know what to do when they first started menstruating.
“The rules are still seen as a private, individual matter, whereas they are a matter of public health, human dignity and equality”, she added.
She also sees another structural and cultural limitation in the under-involvement of men in political debates on these issues. We were also able to draw this conclusion at the event, which was attended only by women, and during which we could hear murmuring, not without irony, “it looks like a single-sex meeting”.
In response to these findings, the recommendations are clear, as the speakers, MEPs and experts pointed out. Harmonised data collection in each Member State, free or subsidised access to menstrual products, the abolition of VAT on menstrual hygiene products, appropriate sanitary facilities in schools, public places and workplaces, and inclusive education to combat stigmatisation and the shame that goes with it, are all recommended.
With the European Parliament’s 2019 resolution calling for the elimination of the ‘tampon tax’, the 2021 resolution in favour of universal access to menstrual products and non-stigmatising education, and the 2025 formal questions to the Commission by 50 MEPs calling for an integrated European menstrual health strategy, these issues are coming to the fore within the EU.
“We are calling for, at the very least, a European framework, a major awareness campaign and harmonisation of standards”, Saskia Bricmont told us.
Although there are already initiatives at national level, such as the free distribution of menstrual products in pharmacies in Catalonia and the BruZelle association in Belgium, there is still a glaring lack of support from public authorities.
In the words of Diana Riba i Giner, who opened the event by addressing the various stakeholders, including associations, “it is time to fully integrate this issue into equality, health, education and social inclusion policies. It should no longer be a footnote”.
Mélissa Camara, for her part, called for “an end to dependence on citizen initiatives. It is up to the Member States, with the support of the EU, to take over”.
Katja Lenzing, Deputy Head of the Gender Equality Unit in the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers, praised the work of MEPs and NGOs.
She said that the importance of ensuring access to affordable menstrual products was now included in the ‘roadmap’ for women’s rights presented in March (see EUROPE 13595/1). The document does not explicitly mention these products, but refers more broadly to the accessibility of sexual and reproductive health services and products.
Katja Lenzing also reminded participants of the opening of a call for evidence for the next equality strategy, inviting stakeholders to participate (https://aeur.eu/f/h5p ).
The study: https://aeur.eu/f/h5q (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)