There is no problem with a lack of free sanitary pads in Bolesławiec primary schools, but the issue of menstruating girls is worth raising and publicising. Unfortunately, while addressing period poverty, the Impuls Miasta councillor stumbled over information poverty. And she fell victim to her own lack of information.
– Bolesławiec primary schools, for which the governing body is the Bolesławiec Municipal Commune, have concluded agreements with Caritas in Legnica to make rooms available for school nurses – informs Agnieszka Gergont, a spokesperson for the municipal office. – Under these agreements, each institution has a nurse’s office equipped with personal hygiene products, including free products for maintaining personal hygiene during menstruation.
Before writing her interpellation, the councillor could have familiarised herself with the facts. Calling several primary-school principals would have taken just a dozen or so minutes. Iwona Bojko apparently did not do so before submitting the interpellation, which councillors considered at the Health, Family and Social Affairs Committee. Despite her lack of knowledge and preparation on the subject, Councillor Bojko did not hide her disappointment at the committee’s negative decision regarding her initiative.
– At the committee meeting, Councillor Iwona Bojko submitted an interpellation concerning the installation of “pink boxes” as part of a nationwide programme to prevent period poverty – says councillor and committee member Dawid Kołodziej. – No one opposed the idea. We invited school principals to express their views on the subject. The principals unanimously said that there was no need to install such boxes in primary schools. First, they feared that the pads might be removed from the boxes without reason and destroyed, especially in primary schools. Second, girls have access to free sanitary pads from the school nurse. We only asked during which hours the nurses’ offices were open and received the answer that it was from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. In addition, there is an agreement with Caritas for it to deliver pads to the nurses’ offices. Despite this, the mayor was open to joining the pink-box programme and asked how much it would cost and how much money would have to be spent on the boxes. Councillor Bojko was unable to give much of an answer about the costs. Someone quickly searched online, and the figure of PLN 50 including VAT for a box, plus about PLN 50 for its one-time monthly replenishment, was mentioned. It was not that we categorically did not want this initiative. No one rejected anything. In particular, no one denied that period poverty could exist. We all understood that period poverty was a problem, but in Bolesławiec it may be a marginal one. The children do not report it. We also asked the councillor where she got the idea and on what basis she had assessed the situation, and learned that she had spoken with secondary-school students. However, the committee’s discussion concerned primary schools, so there was no direct connection. I know that the First Secondary School has such a box installed – councillor Kołodziej described the committee meeting at which Iwona Bojko’s idea was discussed.
The people we spoke with stressed that caring for and supporting young menstruating girls is very important.
– Free sanitary pads have always been available at our school – an employee of one of Bolesławiec’s primary schools tells us. – The pads are available from the school nurse. However, it sometimes happens that we replenish the supply with money from the Parents’ Council; I will not hide the fact that the pads provided through the allocation are coarse and thick, like nappies. The problem of a lack of free sanitary pads at school does not exist, but there is another important issue. It concerns how we approach girls’ menstruation. Girls begin menstruating at the age of nine, and this requires great attentiveness and sensitivity. The point is for parents to trust the school, because when a girl gets her first period, it is an event and an experience associated with anxiety. Parents worry about how their daughter will feel during her period, how she will cope with it, and how her peers will react if they notice that she is bleeding. It is a truly delicate matter, and treating it purely technically by hanging these boxes in a primary school makes no sense to me. These pads are not top-quality; it is almost like putting poor-quality, nearly abrasive toilet paper in the toilets. And at that point, it discourages people. We prefer to buy pads ourselves and talk with the parents. When we speak with parents, we ask how the child is experiencing her period and whether it is painful, but these are very personal conversations. To put it bluntly, hanging such a pink box in a primary school amounts to throwing at the girls: here is a pink box, deal with it. There is no care for the child here, nor education or conversation – the primary-school employee adds.
Editorial comment
The issue of period poverty and caring for menstruating students is very important. Although every school addresses it as best it can, it is very good that the councillor took an interest in the subject. It is a shame, however, that she apparently used the issue for political squabbling between the opposition (Impuls Miasta) and the mayor. It is difficult to believe the Impuls councillor that her motives are noble and that she genuinely cares about the wellbeing of menstruating women. This is especially so because the leader of Impuls Miasta, Maciej Małkowski, is known for views that, to put it mildly, are unfavourable towards women’s rights and sexual minorities. We know him from the campaign of removing from his Facebook friends who supported the rights of people with minority sexual orientations to adopt children in... the United States. And we also know that he took part in and promoted marches that were anti-abortion and homophobic by design, called “Marches for Life and Family”.
Therefore, we suggest that the Impuls councillor first address the ideological poverty of her leader, and if she somehow succeeds, no other initiative will be a challenge for her and she will certainly eliminate period poverty, if not in Poland, then at least in Bolesławiec County. We sincerely wish her that. Especially since, it should be added, the councillor called for pink boxes to be installed not only in primary schools but also in all institutions subordinate to the city.