Menstrual health: what the bill provides for better consideration of menstruation

“Anything related to women’s bodies is still taboo today in France”. This is how it begins the bill brought by the ecologist deputy Albane Gaillot and proposed to the National Assembly on March 15, 2022. The objective? To obtain “a real consideration of menstrual health” at work, at school, in the public space, everywhere.

While on March 10 a decree had just been published asking for more transparency as to the composition of periodic protections, the MP puts this subject in the foreground. “It is now known that disposable menstrual protection in particular contains products that are dangerous to health”can we read in the text. “It therefore appears necessary to prohibit the presence of certain components in menstrual protection, not only at the level of raw materials but also of the elements necessary for the transformation, assembly and laundering of these.”

“Training employers on the issues surrounding menstruation”

Not only does the text ask for more recognition for menstruating people but also a better understanding of them through training : “Employers, human resources, managers and occupational medicine should also be trained in the issues surrounding menstruation, menstrual diseases ranging from very severe pain to endometriosis, pregnancy, miscarriage and menopause”. recommends the MEPs behind the proposal.

In summary, the text provides more frequent use of telework if necessary for employees during periods of menstruation but also elimination of waiting days in these specific cases. He recalls, however, that “these adaptations should not be a source of discrimination but rather an adjustment of the world of work to the needs of half of humanity”.

Ensure equitable access to sanitary protection

If since the start of the 2021 school year the government has already set up free access to hygienic protection for students, homeless women and prisoners, the text recalls that all people who menstruate are affected by the lack of access to sanitary pads in public places. This then offers access to kits containing hygienic protection, hygiene products and protection for incontinence in the streets, stations, metros, hospitals… According to the text, 76% of French people in favor of making these provisions available within public structures.

Finally, the free toilets located in establishments open to the public are also mentioned by the deputies. “In the absence of access to clean and free toilets, particularly in towns and villages, the consequences for the health of menstruating people are particularly deleterious: urinary tract infections for those who have to hold back too long, toxic shocks in the event of impossibility to change disposable menstrual protection, and other illnesses…”, underline the text.