The Catalan Government has approved the Menstrual Equity and Climacteric Plan 2023-2025 that will provide free access to reusable menstrual products for women.
Some of these will be menstrual cups, absorbent panties and reusable pads for around 1.8 million menstruating women, non-binary people and trans people in Catalonia.
In addition, free dispensers of tampons and organic cotton pads will be installed in public facilities.
Also in educational centers, universities, youth facilities, primary care centers, social services, cultural facilities, Mossos d’Esquadra police stations and Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya (FGC).
The plan also includes the promotion of menstrual awareness and education campaigns.
As well as the inclusion of menstrual education in the pedagogical curriculum of sexual education for primary, secondary and special education students.
Free feminine products
The plan has an allocated budget of 7.6 million euros that does not include non-reusable menstrual products.
For her part, the Councilor for Equality and Feminisms, Tània Verge, has assured that later on they will specify the points where these products will be delivered and also those where the dispensers will be installed.
The main objective is to provide menstruating people with free access to menstrual products to ensure their dignity, freedom, health and sustainability in the experience of menstruation and the climacteric period.
In addition, the plan seeks to break the “social stigma” with information and awareness actions on menstruation and menopause.
Menstrual education
It will be included in the pedagogical curriculum of sex education for primary, secondary and special education students.
It is also included in the training of professionals in education, social services and health, among others.
The initiative “La meva regla, les meves regles” (My period, my rules), which teaches menstrual education to students in the third year of secondary school and provides them with reusable menstrual products, will be extended to 1,120 public high schools in Catalonia.
Thanks to this initiative, some 85,500 students in the third year of ESO will be trained in menstrual education.
The use of reusable menstrual products and the installation of free tampon dispensers and organic cotton pads are measures that have a lower environmental impact.
“La meva regla, les meves regles” also helps to reduce the amount of waste generated by the use of disposable menstrual products.
The Menstrual and Climacteric Equity Plan approved by the Catalan Government focuses on two areas: menstrual equity and climacteric equity.
In the case of menstrual equity, the objective is to ensure that all women have access to quality menstrual hygiene products at an affordable price.
Climacteric equity focuses on ensuring that women have access to information and resources to cope with hormonal changes during the climacteric period.
