Imagine using the bathroom at work only to discover it no longer supplies toilet paper, hand soap, paper towels, or warm water to wash your hands. Instead, now you have to bring your own, or - if you are lucky and have the right change handy - you can purchase them on site. Not only would this seem totally ridiculous, it would be illegal. Workplace washrooms must, under law, be stocked with these essentials - because they are necessary for safe work.

If you have ever been caught without any period supplies when you need them, you know it’s a nightmare. It’s messy, it can be embarrassing, and it’s a waste of valuable time and energy during the work day. For half of the population, menstruation is a totally healthy, normal and pretty darn important human function, and yet there is no federal or provincial mandate that states period products need to be accessible in workplace bathrooms. This needs to change. Period products should be considered a necessity, just like toilet paper, because when they aren’t, there are real consequences for menstruators.

Here are the facts:

A 2018 study done by Plan Canada revealed that:

• 70% of menstruators have missed work, school or social activities because of their period

• One-third of all Canadian women under the age of 25 experienced “period poverty” meaning they either struggle to afford menstrual products or can’t access them at all (this includes menstruators with full time steady jobs)

• access and affordability of period products vary very widely between urban and rural areas of the country. (A box of pads can cost up to $25 dollars in some areas)

Help lawmakers understand how important free and accessible period products are by signing this petition asking them to support gender equality in the workplace. Providing period products to all who need them at work would benefit not only menstruators but all workers.  

Firstly, it would help to improve productivity with less time and energy wasted worrying about leaks, trying to find products or using makeshift products.

It’s also a public health issue. When menstruators lack access to period products when they need them - either because they can’t afford them or when they are caught off guard - it increases the likelihood of being forced to extend the use of a single product, with potential negative health consequences.

Finally, the stigma that persists around menstruation has no place in the work environment of Canada today. As a country we have made incredible strides in gender equality, but when we make menstruation a “private” issue - the burden of which falls on the individual - we only further entrench the stigma and taboo around a bodily process that literally sustains human life on earth.

What does making period products free for all workers in their bathrooms look like?

It starts with you signing this petition asking that the basic necessity of period products be taken seriously, both at a federal and provincial level. The federal government is already in the process of mandating that period products be accessible in the workplace bathrooms under its jurisdiction, so let’s send a message of support and urgency! Let’s amplify our voices together to say, it’s time to get the patriarchy out of the bathroom.

Our ask:

• That the Labour Code is updated to require freely accessible menstrual products in all these locations.
• That the federal government study ways to implement reusables (like equipping remote employees with reusable products like cups that would negate supply challenges).
• That the federal government study ways to ensure that distribution is not limited to women's washrooms (to accommodate transgender and nonbinary workers who may use other facilities).