The numbers are dizzying. In France, nearly four million* women are victims of menstrual poverty, and 39% of the most vulnerable do not have sufficient hygienic protection. In Strasbourg, menstrual poverty is estimated at 11,000 of its residents.
Also, the Strasbourg municipality is launching this week and until November 24 a big collection hygienic protection, in partnership with the association Basic rules. In eight locations in Strasbourg, it is now possible to deposit any type of periodic protection. Two boxes will also be made available during the conference to combat violence against women on November 14. The products collected will be given to associations. This initiative which comes “in complementarity with the systems already put in place by partners such as the Crous, the associations”, underlines the city in a press release.
Distributors to go further
Another initiative, automatic dispensers of hygienic protection, eighteen in total, are set up in collaboration with the company Marguerite and company. They are spread across fifteen different sites in the city. Located mainly in toilets, these dispensers aim to “enable the most vulnerable to obtain towels and tampons. These distributors will make it possible to reach homeless people or people supported by the city in places such as medico-social centers (de la Gare, du Neuhof), reception and accommodation centers, public toilets (place Kléber, Parc de l ‘Etoile)’, specifies the Strasbourg municipality.
*According to an Opinion Way survey from February 2023 for the Règles Élementaires association.
Collection locations in Strasbourg: LAPE Cité de l’Ill, the Malraux media library, Olympe de Gouges, the administrative center and the district town halls of Hautepierre, Koenigshoffen, Cronenbourg, and the Conseil des XV.