'Let's do even more to make period products free'

Rhian Evans wants to help people while a bill moves through the Manx parliament

A campaign group working to make period products free of charge on the Isle of Man has upped their efforts, hoping to reach even more people.

The Manx Menstrual Movement (MMM) currently provides a variety of sanitary products at Douglas City Library.

It comes after a bill to make the products free in public facilities had its first reading in the House of Keys.

MMM Co-founder Rhian Evans said it welcomed the bill and the group wanted to "do something in the interim".

Recently MMM distributed community donation boxes to be collected from various locations around the island.

'Hygiene and dignity'

Ms Evans said while they were working hard to provide products, they did not want to be a long-term solution.

She said: "There have been other charities in the past who have offered something similar to this and they've folded because the upkeep was too demanding.

"It's important not to let something as lovely as this be a distraction from the fact that we need to get the legislation through."

Inspired to start the group after Scotland introduced free products, Ms Evans said: "You go into a public bathroom and toilet roll is free, hand soap is free, because they're deemed to be essential products. Why aren't products that more than half the population use?"

She said products were "essential to the comfort, the well-being, the safety, the hygiene, the dignity of people".

Nicki Gaskell particularly wants schoolchildren to have access to free products

Co-founder Nicki Gaskell said she was particularly concerned about period poverty among young people.

She said: "In the UK 21% of people said that they experienced period poverty, so we're expecting the number to be the same here on the island".

In schools a quarter of children reported missing school "because they're worried about getting access to products or they haven't got enough products to take to school", she said.

The education department does not have a set policy on period product provision in schools.

In a statement, it said: "The wellbeing of our students is of utmost importance to us, and we recognise the challenges that some students may face regarding access to sanitary products.

"Schools take proactive steps to ensure that students have the necessary provisions when needed - demonstrating their dedication to student welfare."

'Student welfare'

But Ms Gaskell said putting the onus on individual schools created a "real mismatch of how these products are provided".

"Some are relying on charities like the foodbank, some are getting donations from parents, there were some schools that said teachers buy them out of their own pocket.

"Really in this day and age we should be doing better, they should be freely available in schools for everybody that needs them."

Douglas East MHK Joney Faragher's private members bill had its first reading in the House of Keys this month.

The cost of providing the products would be "met within existing budgets", she said, and she hoped to get it "through through as quick as I can".

"I'm really proud to be working with the Manx Menstrual Movement to hopefully be bringing this through for women and girls," she said.