Sanitary pads and tampons should be standard in a company toilet

Where did the idea for a menstrual product cost calculator for employers come from?

First, the idea of a menstrual cost calculator was aimed directly at women themselves. This was around the time that the ‘Pink Box’ campaign began. Donor-funded boxes of sanitary pads and tampons have appeared in public spaces: in some schools, libraries, offices. Together with my colleague Julia Żuławińska, a biophysics student, we decided it was worth developing such a calculator to show that pink boxes make sense. We shared the work: programming in Java Script, preparing the text for the website. We got the idea when the pandemic was already underway and economic inequalities were widening. We decided that the boxes, this time funded by employers, would also be useful in workplaces. After all, every workplace has access to soap, toilet paper, paper towels. Why are there no sanitary pads or tampons, when these are also basic hygiene products? We decided to create another calculator to show employers what it would cost to stock company toilets with such products and encourage them to do so. It is available at Cyklkariery.pl/kalkulator.

How does the calculator work?

We have prepared two options to choose from. Employers can calculate how much it would cost them to fully supply their female employees with sanitary pads and tampons, or they can choose the emergency supply option, which involves buying sanitary products only for the first day of menstruation for every woman in the company. After all, sometimes a woman forgets to pack hygiene products in her handbag, or her period arrives a day earlier and surprises her. It would be great if the company was able to provide emergency minimum menstrual products for such situations. It is worth noting that the calculator does not calculate the requirement for a whole day but for an eight to ten hour day. After selecting the option of full or emergency supply, the employer should enter the number of women employed in the company, the number of toilets and what proportion of hygiene products they would like to provide, for example, sanitary pads and tampons at a ratio of half and half. The calculator will calculate how many menstrual products to buy and how many to place in each toilet. It also estimates their price.

What is the cost to the employer of purchasing menstrual products for one employee?

We have assumed a wholesale price of PLN 0.37 per pad and PLN 0.50 per tampon. After all, these are products that can be bought in larger numbers in advance, which is more cost-effective than buying at retail prices. In this case, the monthly amount of emergency supplies for one woman, assuming that half of the menstrual products purchased will be sanitary pads and half will be tampons, is only one zloty. For the employer, the cost is low, not at all commensurate with the comfort that the availability of such products in the toilet guarantees women. With a full supply, i.e. for all days of menstruation, the cost of hygiene products for one employee is about PLN 4-5.

This is, after all, much less than the cost of coffee, tea, fruit and other products that many employers provide without hesitation, and without which it is easier to function than without sanitary pads.

Of course. Menstrual products are a basic thing to ensure the mental comfort of female workers. Their presence in the toilet gives women the confidence that even if they forget to take their sanitary pads or tampons from home, they won’t have to leave work and run to the nearest shop. In contrast, the cost of these products is so low that it should not be a problem for an employer to add menstrual products to the pool of basic supplies for employees.

What examples of costs are we talking about?

For a company employing 25 women, the total monthly cost of fully equipping company toilets with sanitary pads and tampons is PLN 109. In a company with 80 women, if we want to provide emergency sanitary pads for the first day of the period, the total monthly cost is PLN 89. These are not large amounts.

Are employers interested in such a solution?

The calculator is free and can be used without registration, so I am not able to provide the number of companies that have used it and purchased menstrual measures for their female employees. However, many employers have emailed us. They asked, for example, how the costs of menstrual products are calculated and whether these calculations are reliable. We replied that these numbers are obviously averaged, as the final cost depends on which brand of products the employer decides on. We also received questions about whether it was worthwhile to provide female workers with such supplies. This is not yet obvious to everyone.

After all, all a woman has to do is give up one coffee in the city and she can buy her own sanitary pads. This is what internet users commented on when I once wrote about pink boxes.

When we created the menstrual cost calculator, we also received such opinions. Some people were shocked and could not believe how high the cost of menstrual products was – that calculator calculated the 24-hour demand for hygiene products for all days of menstruation. Others, on the contrary, thought that these costs were very low and there was nothing to make so much noise about, as every woman should buy her own sanitary pads. But, after all, toilet paper could also be carried by everyone, and yet no one disputes that it is an essential product in every toilet. I think, however, that these critical opinions are the best argument that such actions are needed. Society needs to be made aware, conversations about menstruation or the use of menstrual products need to be normalised in the public sphere, taboos need to be broken. This is already happening. The calculator intended for employers was very positively received. Employers are interested in the fact that they can help female workers in such a simple way. It is also profitable for them themselves. Such a solution increases the comfort of work in the company, improves the well-being of female employees, builds a good image of the employer. In Poland there are companies that have introduced menstrual leave, abroad it is an increasingly popular trend. This makes it all the more difficult to ask whether it is worth providing female employees with sanitary pads and tampons in the toilet. That should be obvious.

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In Poland there are companies that have introduced menstrual leave, abroad it is an increasingly popular trend

The Career Cycle is a new programme of the Kulczyk Foundation which addresses the issue of gender equality in the workplace. The initiative aims, among other things, to make menstrual supplies more widely available and to create awareness about menstrual health. Any company, institution or social organisation with female or male employees can take part in the Career Cycle.

 

Author: Magdalena Warchala-Kopeć

Ilustracja: Marta Frej

The text was published in „Wolna Sobota” a magazine of „Gazeta Wyborcza” on 19 March 2022