They know these situations in the city library in Kempten. You have many school classes here and often young women too. “We’ve often had to help out,” says Andrea Graf. The head of the facility is therefore happy that menstrual items will be available in the toilet of the city library in the future.
All visitors can take pads or tampons out of a small box, free of charge. In the future, the city will make the service available in schools, youth centers and in the Zumstein House, which houses the Kempten Museum – and is thus a pioneer throughout Bavaria. “We hope that word of Kempten’s good example will spread and that other cities will follow suit,” says third mayor Erna-Kathrein Groll from the Greens.
Scotland recently passed legislation requiring all public bodies to display menstrual products free of charge. In Bavaria, there are already such offers at some universities and sometimes at other institutions. The city of Rosenheim has also been working on the topic for some time, and hygiene items are occasionally offered there free of charge. “That’s very important for young women,” says Groll about the Kempten pilot project. “It’s a question of money, equality and equality.”
The topic should be de-tabooed
In fact, there’s even a term for when low-income women can’t easily afford pads or tampons: “period poverty.” In Kempten, however, it is also about the fact that “shameful situations” for young women should be defused by the offer. “We want to help bring this taboo topic into the public eye and make it a matter of course,” says Groll.
Gertrud Epple (left) and Erna-Kathrein Groll (right, both Greens) and Andreas Hummel from the Office for Building Management in Kempten present a box with free menstrual items.
(Photo: Florian Fuchs)
In February of this year, the city councilors in Kempten submitted a cross-party application to offer a low-threshold offer for free menstrual items in municipal facilities – a novelty in the city that all politicians from different parties were in complete agreement with.
“We all know these situations ourselves or we have daughters,” says Groll. In schools, for example, there are situations where a friend’s classmates quickly throw a jacket over her skirt to hide a stain. The city councilors were also often asked about the topic, which is why the idea came up. Andreas Hummel from the Office for Building Management finally got to work on the implementation and also spoke to the city administrations in Heidelberg and Dresden, for example, where such offers now exist.
“The need is very difficult to estimate”
“It wasn’t that easy to find manufacturers who pack the products individually,” says Hummel. However, this was a prerequisite for being able to publicly display the products. The city has now purchased small white boxes that can be placed in restrooms. The boxes contain tampons and pads in standard sizes. Of course, those responsible are aware that these products come in different sizes. “The need is very difficult to estimate,” says Hummel. Kempten is therefore now starting with this offer, and the administration is hoping for the first responses at the turn of the year. In a year at the latest, a comprehensive evaluation should be carried out to determine whether the offer will be accepted, whether it may need to be expanded and whether the product range needs to be adjusted.
In the first year, the city expects costs of only 2500 to 3000 euros for the 50 purchased boxes, which will be displayed in 50 toilets. A price that should also be in the budget for other cities, even if there are more complex and therefore more expensive dispenser systems than the simple white boxes that Kempten is now using. The cleaning staff in the schools or in the city library should fill up the boxes, just as they do with soap or other hygiene items. “Menstrual items should be as natural as toilet paper,” says Groll.
However, Hummel and the administration had to convince one or the other caretaker in the schools. “They’re worried about vandalism,” says Hummel. Any part that is also in toilets or anywhere else on the site could be smeared or destroyed. “But we trust the reason of the students.”