It is a small metallic blue box bearing the hashtag # Changeonslesrègles which will simplify the life of teenage girls at Jean-Vilar College in La Courneuve. Thursday afternoon, the departmental council of Seine-Saint-Denis – in charge of managing colleges – inaugurated the installation of a dispenser of free periodic protection in the toilets of this establishment. Two other identical models will soon be installed at the Louise-Michel colleges in Clichy-sous-Bois and Sólveig-Anspach in Montreuil.
According to a study carried out in January 2019 by the Ifop polling institute for the Dons solidaires association, 1.7 million women in France suffer from menstrual insecurity. This means that they cannot afford to buy or change as much hygiene protection as they would like. “Menstrual precariousness is still a taboo subject which is just beginning to be taken into account,” said the president of the PS of the departmental council Stéphane Troussel. We know that it can cause social difficulties, sometimes forcing some women to stay at home when they have their period. “
Organic cotton products
Menstrual insecurity, which would also play a role in school absenteeism, also poses many health problems (itching, infections) which can sometimes be very serious. Prolonged wearing of a tampon or menstrual cup can thus lead to toxic shock syndrome which can be fatal in women carrying the bacterial toxin TSST-1.
“This dispenser will be very useful to us, it will prevent us from looking everywhere for hygienic protection when we have our periods. Once I had to go to the nurse to find a towel. There, everything will be available, ”says a 3rd year student. This distributor will also allow young girls to have access to quality products, which often cost more in stores. These napkins and tampons, marketed by Marguerite & Cie, are organic cotton, chlorine-free, fragrance-free and plastic-free.
“It is this kind of products that it is important to generalize,” said Salwa Benacher, SVT teacher at Jean-Vilar, who had already been looking for a year and a half to offer this type of protection to college girls at her establishment. “I had tried to forge partnerships with several brands, but they were not interested, because they felt that these young girls did not represent for them a potential clientele in the future… I am therefore very happy that this partnership with the the departmental council was able to be set up, ”smiles the teacher, who would like the establishment to be able to offer them menstrual panties afterwards. Absorbent briefs that can be worn all day, thus avoiding the need for disposable protections.
For the moment, at Jean-Vilar college, only towels and tampons with or without applicator are offered to some 350 college girls.
A cost of 20,000 euros for the department
This experiment in three establishments costs the Departmental Council a total of € 20,000 for the year. Ultimately, the latter would like to extend it to all of its 130 colleges. “The former Minister for Equality between Women and Men announced last summer that she was ready to mobilize 1 million euros to help actors who would like to offer free hygiene protection. I am going to meet his successor next week and talk to him about it, ”underlines Stéphane Troussel.
