Recent data from The Big Bloody Survey conducted by Share the Dignity has found that 64 per cent of women in Australia find it “difficult to buy period products”, with nearly 30 per cent, due to cost, have worn a tampon for over four hours.
To combat this issue, ECU Joondalup campus has recently installed a free period product dispenser in its all-gender bathroom in the library, donated by Share the Dignity.
The charity focuses on helping women and girls by distributing donated period products and has worked to install Dignity vending machines in public bathrooms.
Brittiny Edwards, Advocacy and Communications Specialist at Share the Dignity, shared how it started back in 2015.
“Our founder (Rochelle Courtenay) was reading an article and learned about homeless women and how they were having to deal with their period by utilising socks, newspaper or toilet paper to deal with their period.
“She decided she would do something about it,” she said.
Since then, the charity has collected more than five million period products and distributed them to 3,000 charities.
“[We want to] eradicate period poverty here in Australia and, from that, ensure menstrual equity for everybody who menstruates,” Edwards said.
In their efforts to end the issue, Share the Dignity has developed its own dispenser for communal bathrooms.
“The world’s first free vending machine that dispenses period products.
“People don’t have to ask; they can get the products they need to manage their period with dignity themselves.”
Edwards said the 2024 survey found that university students had one of the largest percentages of period poverty across Australia, which significantly increased from 2021.
“The cost of living is really hard on university students. It can be hard to make ends meet.
“It would be great for universities to be able to provide that accessible means to be able to manage your periods.”
With prices of products steadily on the rise, the dispensers should have a big impact.
Despite the effort to install a dispenser in the library, not many students or staff are aware of its location within the ECU campus.
“No, I had no idea that they did them. I’d seen some where you had to pay, but I had no idea there was a free one,” third-year student Ffion said.
“When I also asked the woman at the library, she didn’t know about it either.”
ECU Guild at the Joondalup campus announced the installation on Instagram in early August.
“I think it would have a better impact if more people knew about it because I don’t think many people do, and so therefore it just won’t really be used,” Ffion added.
She also noticed that the dispenser did not appear to have been touched.
“It was fully stocked. I don’t know whether that’s because people don’t use it or because people don’t know about it.”
Ffion suggested more dispensers could be added to other buildings around the campus and other educational settings.
“[The dispensers] should be in more schools.”
With reports that menstruation education is lacking, Share the Dignity has created important educational videos for schools that can be accessed through their education hub.
“We have a 2-minute animation that is nonverbal. So, it means it’s accessible no matter what language they speak.
“We’re really encouraging local government to highlight our education hub so that their constituents have an understanding.”
