Katie LannanState House News Service| Standard-Times
BOSTON — What started as a topic for Medway High School student Caroline Williams' English class paper became a promise from her principal and a bill filed by her state representative.
The bill Williams worked with Rep. Jeffrey Roy to file would require Massachusetts public schools to make feminine hygiene products available in their restrooms, at no charge for students.
Williams said the issue first came to her attention when she was trying to come up with a topic for a research paper and encountered YouTube videos about how hard it is for homeless women to access menstrual products. The issue hit home, she said, when she realized the same products aren't always available at her school, and that a lack of access could make it difficult to attend classes.
If passed, the bill (H 565) would take effect on Aug. 1, 2020. It would require all public elementary and secondary schools serving students in any grade six through 12 to provide tampons and sanitary napkins in their restrooms and make those products "available in a convenient manner that does not stigmatize any student seeking such product."
In New Bedford, the YWCA Girls Exclusive group has also been working to put a spotlight on "period poverty." They have made their case in several venues, including before the New Bedford School Committee in April.
For her part, Williams said the language about stigma was an important piece to her. She's not looking to have schools place the menstrual products in a nurse's office, which would require a student to make a special trip.
"It's not an illness. It's not something that's wrong with you," she said in an interview. "It's a regular thing and it should be in the bathroom and should be free."
A graduating senior and Girl Scout, Williams plans to start classes at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in the fall. She and Roy planned to testify together at an Education Committee hearing, where lawmakers will also delve into bills dealing with nutrition and sex education.
According to the Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts, four states -- California, Illinois, New York and New Hampshire -- require public schools to provide free menstrual products in bathrooms.
Other lawmakers are trying to tackle the same issue this session. Legislation filed by Sen. Patricia Jehlen (S 1274) and Reps. Jay Livingstone and Christine Barber (H 1959) would require disposable menstrual products be available at no cost in schools as well as in shelters and other temporary housing and in prisons and jails.
"Many high school students say it's embarrassing to have to go to the nurse's office if they don't have a pad with them," Jehlen wrote in an April 25 newsletter. "They also are concerned about the stigma around menstruation. Students at Cambridge, Medford and Somerville High Schools have led campaigns to make sure young women have access to menstrual hygiene products."
Those broader bills, filed in January, are before the Public Health Committee and have not yet had a hearing. If passed, that legislation would become "the first statewide law of its kind in the country," according to the Massachusetts Chapter of the National Organization for Women.
A person who menstruates will use an average of more than 9,000 disposal pads and tampons in their lifetime, at a total cost of more than $2,000, according to MassNOW.
"Map out a plan"
Williams got an A on her research paper and reached out to Roy after he spoke at a civics event at her school.
Roy told participants in Medway High's first civics day last year that many ideas for legislation "actually come from experiences that people have in their daily lives" and "encouraged them to think of that as a way of taking care of an issue that they identify in their lives," he recalled.
The Franklin Democrat read Williams' paper, and then, on a trip to New York, saw a series of about 30 posters at Bronx Community College advertising an upcoming forum on free feminine hygiene products for students there.
"I took that as a signal that this was an issue that something needed to be done about, and as soon as I got back home, I called up Caroline and said, 'Come on into the office, I want to sit down with you and map out a plan,'" he said.
Roy said both he and Williams have heard from companies that want to donate products to her school, with one company offering 10,000 tampons. Williams said she's secured a promise from her principal that Medway High will place free feminine hygiene product dispensers in its bathrooms.
She said she found working on the bill to be "a really awesome experience." Roy said he considers it "the ultimate civics lesson."
"Basically everyone I've talked to has been really enthusiastic and really supportive, especially girls, because obviously that's who this is going to mainly help," Williams said.
A few people have raised questions about costs, Williams said, a query she counters by asking: "What's our budget for toilet paper at school?"
Roy said he's had success with a similar line of logic, helping change the perspective of a constituent who asked him why girls couldn't bring feminine hygiene products with them from home.
"I said, 'Well, let me ask you this: Do you put toilet paper in your pocket when you come into work or come into the senior center here?' No, you go into the bathroom and it's available to you and when you wash your hands, there's a paper towel," Roy said. "Why should these types of products be treated any differently?"
