Pilot Project: Tampon and Sanitary Pad Dispensers at Universität Hamburg

The pilot project is to help make the issue of menstruation visible and contribute to its social normalization. We hope this will spark a discussion at Universität Hamburg about menstruation and how it affects many members of the university community in their study and work environment. At the end of a year, resonance, consumption, criticism, and suggestions for improvement will be evaluated to ascertain whether it should be continued, and if so, on what basis.

Period supplies should be available in the restrooms of University buildings like toilet paper, soap, or paper towels, as a way of ensuring that menstruating people are not disadvantaged at Universität Hamburg. About half of the world’s population menstruates about once a month for roughly 40 years— including many Universität Hamburg students and employees. We also want to help lift menstrual taboos.

Period poverty is when a menstruating person lacks funds to purchase appropriate period products (https://de.statista.com/themen/8624/menstruation/). This particularly affects low-income students. These students may be unable to leave the house to go to university when menstruating. Menstruating persons who are facing poverty carry a special burden which, at worst, leads to social exclusion.

Not all menstruating individuals have a regular cycle. If menstruation occurs suddenly and unexpectedly, it may result in embarrassing situations, e.g., due to blood-stained clothes or the need to ask for a tampon may arise. Menstruating persons usually are forced to go home or to a nearby store to obtain the necessary product.

Free menstrual products enable participation in a work and study environment that allows students and employees to focus on their studies or work without having to worry about period products.

The project is aimed at removing menstrual taboos without trivializing them. By providing period products the University is taking a key step to tackle period poverty. This does not, however, eliminate menstrual inequity. Severe menstrual pain and other psychological and physical menstrual symptoms may disrupt daily routines of University members.

Our goal is to benefit all menstruating people at the University. In particular, students who are most affected by period poverty which limits their access to the University curriculum or restricts their ability to participate in it.

We ask all users to take out only as many items as they need and to dispose of them in the appropriate garbage cans after use.

We are intent on increasing the number of dispensers in University buildings in the long term to accommodate as many people as possible.

The University Administration will cover the cost of the one-year pilot phase.

Several German universities are already providing period products in their restrooms, including:

• Friedrich Schiller University Jena,
• the University of Bonn,
• the University of Potsdam,
• the University of Stuttgart, and
• Philipps-Universität Marburg,
• the Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg, which also conducted and published a study on the perception and success of the measure.

Internationally, the provision of pads and tampons in universities has been quite common for some time:

• Scotland was the first country to introduce laws granting free access to period products in all public buildings.
• Yale, Columbia, Harvard, Cornell and other universities in the USA.

Unlike the need for shaving and personal hygiene, which is largely socially and fashion-driven, the need for period products can arise spontaneously and unexpectedly. Coping strategies impose an additional mentally stress and may be hazardous to health or involve stopping or interrupting work or study days.

In solidarity-based societies, it is generally accepted that burdens affecting only part of the population are shared by everyone; even if the burden, unlike menstruation, is subject to the decision-making power of the individual concerned. For instance, non-smokers also bear the cost of maintaining and cleaning smoking areas on campus, as cyclists also bear the cost of managing university parking.

Experience at other institutions and dispenser manufacturers show that abuse is infrequent and only occurs to a small extent. Taking more products than required mostly occurred when the offer was launched, but normalized once people grew accustomed to the continuous supply. As a general rule, the risk of possible misuse pales in comparison to the benefits of offering free products. For example, there was an increase in stolen disinfectants, soap, and toilet paper at the onset of the pandemic. In the same vein, cafeteria dishes and cutlery do not always find their way back to the cafeteria. Unlike in these cases, however, the quantities used are evaluated through the pilot project to identify irregularities and address them directly.

Contact gleichstellung"AT"uni-hamburg.de or contact persons at the respective locations.

Faculty of Law: gleichstellung.jura@uni-hamburg.deFaculty of Psychology and Human Movement Science: gleichstellung.pb"AT"uni-hamburg.de

• Geomatikum (Bundesstraße 55, Ground Floor, Room A-U1-109)
• Main Building (Edmund-Siemers-Allee 1, Basement, Room TBA)
• Faculty of Humanities:
  - Edmund-Siemers-Allee 1, East Wing, Ground Floor, Room KA16
  - Edmund-Siemers-Allee 1, Basement, Room 011
• Faculty of Psychology and Human Movement Science / University Sports:
  - Feldbrunnenstraße 70, Ground Floor, Room 06
  - Herbert-Weichmann-Straße 79, Sailing Pier, Ground Floor, Room KA 06
  - Isekai 1b, University Boathouse, Ground Floor, Room TBD
  - Mollerstraße 10, Ground Floor, Room 018, [wheelchair accessible]
  - Turmweg 2–4, Ground Floor, Room 0062 A
  - Von-Melle-Park 11, Ground Floor, Room 19/19.1
• Faculty of Law:
  - Rothenbaumchaussee 33, 2nd Floor, Room KA07
  - Rothenbaumchaussee 33, Basement, Room C-U1-22/23
  - Schlüterstraße 28, Ground Floor, Room B013/B014
  - Schlüterstraße 28, Ground Floor, Room B015 [wheelchair accessible]
  - Schlüterstraße 28, Basement, Room BU028
• Audimax (Von-Melle-Park 4, Basement, Room KA52)
• Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences:
  - Von-Melle-Park 5, Ground Floor, Room 0054
  - Von-Melle-Park 5, Ground Floor, Room 0063
  - Von-Melle-Park 5, 4th Floor, Room 4137
• Faculty of Education (Von-Melle-Park 8, Ground Floor, Room 064)