gender bias

picture of a dispenser for menstrual products
March 10, 2017

Toilet Paper Is Free In Public Restrooms; Why Not Menstrual Products?

Yes. Why not?

Just a thought. Maybe someone, somewhere, should file a public accommodations complaint based on gender discrimination and see what happens. How about

  • Airports?
  • Convention Centers?
  • Courthouses?
  • Hospitals and Clinics?
  • Hotels and Motels?
  • Parks?
  • Restaurants, Bars, and Taverns?
  • Retail stores?
  • Roadside stops?
  • Recreational facilities?
  • Theatres?
  • Town Halls?
  • Trains?
  • Schools?
  • Etc.

BTW, it’s nice to see that Orlando International Airport has “seen the light” and provided free access to these types of products.

 

Erin Matson

Toilet paper, soap, water, and hand towels or hand dryers are provided free of charge in public restrooms. So why are women supposed to pay for a tampon or a pad?

Just like peeing and pooping, menstruation is a predictable, routine bodily function that people take care of in public restrooms every single day.

Menstrual products are basic public health supplies that allow people to maintain sanitary health standards — just like toilet paper, soap, water, and hand towels or hand dryers.

Access to menstrual products is critical for the full dignity, equality, and participation of women and girls worldwide — in South Africa, for example, poor girls have stayed home from school because they didn’t have access to pads.

16907003_446146369109758_5158251861320400896_n(1)A free sanitary napkin dispenser in the Orlando International Airport (photo mine).

Some might object that people would become freeloaders and stop buying menstrual products altogether, and grab large quantities to take home. (Which begs the…

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August 12, 2016

Report on Racial Bias in Baltimore Policing Also Exposes Gender Bias

In Baltimore, the Justice Department criticized the police for not only their treatment of black men, but also for their maltreatment of women. Especially women who had been sexually assaulted. What they said to victims and how they dismissed or minimized the assaults shows what appears, IMHO, to be an ingrained sense of misogyny and a general belief in victim blaming surrounding rape.