At Furman, public and academic buildings do a great job of supplying women’s restrooms with feminine hygiene products. Tampons, pads, and wastebaskets are available alongside resources to educate people about period poverty. While this is pivotal in making women comfortable, communal bathrooms in dorms lack any amenities. When I first moved into Furman’s south housing, I was horrified to find no little trash can in the stall for feminine hygiene products! While other buildings on campus provide women with trash cans in each stall, dorm buildings provide one tiny trash can for all stalls to share. Sanitary products in public buildings as opposed to housing buildings demonstrate that Furman cares more about the comfortability and hygiene of guests than that of the students living on campus. It is important that Furman considers providing little trash cans to each stall in dorm buildings for students’ safety, comfort, and empowerment.
Furman and colleges abroad ought to ensure that students are provided with necessary sanitary efforts in their bathrooms! Communal bathrooms should, AT THE BARE MINIMUM, be supplied regularly with soap, paper towels, toilet paper, and plenty of trash cans. Numerous freshmen are forced to remove their used feminine hygiene product, carry it through the bathroom to the trash can, and then leave, unable to wash their hands because the bathroom has been out of soap for a week. This turns women’s restrooms into a breeding ground for numerous viruses. Increasing hygiene care in communal bathrooms is a must.
As women in college face enough obstacles (high levels of anxiety, financial stressors, underrepresentation in their major, adjustment to a new environment, etc.) the last problem they should face is being unable to throw away their tampons or pads without staining their clothes with blood. Communal trash for tampons and pads makes people uncomfortable (largely due to the shame instilled in girls from a young age surrounding menstruation). The Journal of Environmental and Public Health finds that “feminine hygiene bins” located outside bathroom stalls often aren’t used due to fear of being seen by others. Furthermore, it is not rare for college-age women to see changes, or even, disorders, in their menstrual cycle. This makes it even more important that universities ensure that these people are comfortable and sanitary when on their period.
While there are a variety of theories, people at Furman most frequently argue that little trash cans for tampons and pads were removed to cut back on waste, and/or decrease the use of custodial staff. However, removing wastebaskets from bathrooms has not accomplished either of these goals. Initially, trash cans with paper bags were replaced with a single plastic trash bag for feminine hygiene products, however, the use of plastic is only more harmful to the environment. Additionally, if the campus would like to reduce the time custodians take the trash out an alternative idea would be to consolidate the tiny trash cans found in study rooms in the libraries. Aside from why these trash cans were removed, the absence of the tiny trash is an ill-considered inconvenience for women that have worked hard to receive an education at Furman University.
This isn’t just a Furman problem – it’s a nationwide one. In fact, some schools blame the lack of trash cans for feminine hygiene products on the use of temporary “women’s” bathrooms (the annual rotation of girls’ and boys’ bathrooms). These schools argue that they remove feminine hygiene products and trash cans because they are not confident that women’s enrollment will increase (“Where Am I Supposed to Put This Bloody Thing?”). While this isn’t necessarily a Furman problem, it is subjecting a variety of college women to the notion that their presence in academia is not permanent. Regardless of female interest in a university, educational institutions ought to be accommodating to all, especially in regard to hygiene and student safety.
With a history of menstrual flow being seen by the world as “repulsive” and “shameful” many are not educated about menstruation. Universities ought to ensure that students are receiving the slightest of tools to safely dispose of feminine hygiene products. Nationally, the dismissal of women’s health needs is becoming a norm. On campus, I ask that we reconsider where trash cans are placed to ease the struggle of one’s period.
“Menstrual Disorders in the College Age Female.” Pediatric Clinics of North America
northernstar.info/94805/opinion/sanitary-disposal-boxes-are-a-necessity-in-campus-bathrooms/
“Menstrual Hygiene, Management, and Waste Disposal: Practices and Challenges Faced by Girls/Women of Developing Countries.” Journal of Environmental and Public Health
https://scienceblogs.com/thusspakezuska/2007/08/11/where-am-i-supposed-to-put-thi