Women’s History Month: Legislative Advocacy
Hello everyone! Happy Women’s History Month! In light of this amazing month, menstrual equity is a topic that will hopefully gain more recognition and understanding in the coming weeks. Menstrual equity and wellness is fundamental to the wellbeing of many women, but it is still overshadowed and even considered taboo in many countries and areas. The dismantling of period stigma is crucial to new legislation and laws being passed to empower women and their periods, a natural, bodily function that needs to be normally discussed in conversation.
Speaking of legislation, there has been much progress in the legal field on incorporating menstrual equity into the areas of focus for the government’s tasks. As of May 2025, Congress passed the Menstrual Equity for All Act, to “increase the availability and affordability of menstrual products for individuals with limited access, and for other purposes”. Currently, there are around 259 bills centered around menstrual equity, and the Menstrual Equity for All Act seems to be the one bill encompassing a lot of the needs of menstrual equity and wellness. This law and others are still not implemented in all states of America, however, so interacting with state individuals and leaders are needed to spread the idea of menstrual equity and raising awareness on period poverty.
There are more bills and laws to come to increase the awareness of period poverty, including AB 230 which is the Girl Scouts Equity Act, which requires schools grade 3-5 to provide free menstrual products. SB 59 also requires state-owned buildings to provide period products in almost every bathroom, along with SB 260 allowing low income families to use cash benefits to pay for tampons and pads, which is vital for underrepresented and low-income communities. In all, new legislation helps to unite those who feel unheard or whose perspectives have not been shared with the world. Through awareness and action, period poverty can become an issue that is hopefully obsolete in the future.
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