Staff Reporter
THE regional equality chief in Spain’s northeastern Catalunya region launched a pioneering scheme on Monday that will see free, reusable menstrual products made available at pharmacies.
Politician Tania Verge said that ‘today, Catalunya has become the first country in the world to universally distribute, at no cost, reusable menstrual products accompanied by high-quality information and advice from pharmacies’.
(Verge was referring to Catalunya as a country, given the longstanding and ongoing drive for independence from Spain in the region.)
The regional government picked this week to start the scheme, given that March 8 is International Women’s Day.
“For many decades, sexual and reproductive rights have been at the centre of the feminist struggle on a global scale,” she continued, in a statement reported by news agency Europa Press. “And the right to your own body is the most essential right of all.”
According to the regional government, any person who menstruates can request a pair of menstrual underwear, a reusable menstrual cup, or two cloth pads.
To obtain any of these products, people must first visit the regional healthcare website, where they can get a QR code from the section called ‘La meva regla, les meves regles’, in the ‘La meva salut’ (My Health) section.
The products will be available at any of the 3,280 pharmacies in the Catalunya region.
Read more:
- Pioneering voices: who were Spain’s early suffragettes?
- Where does Spain really rank in the EU for gender equality?
- Women’s Day marches in Spain marred by splits in feminist movement and political infighting
