Update on the Gators Matter, Period Campaign

Today, I walked out of the Capstone Seminar for my Women’s Studies Major after having spent the last 2 hours discussing the book “We Should all be Feminists” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and “The Personal is Political” essay by Carol Hanisch. (You can listen to the “We Should all be Feminists” TEDx here.)

On my way, out I was discussing some of the upcoming events and to-dos with the President of WSA. I left the class hopeful for a future where women matter and our voices are heard. Where our hard work and efforts are recognized and rewarded. Where we can sit in on a conversation with other peers without having simple information “mansplained” to us. Where we can dress how we choose and be taken seriously regardless of our choice to wear a dress or a suit.

Then reality hit me. I opened my newsfeed and was faced with an Alligator article: SG Committee Rejects Proposal to Use Student Fees for Free Tampons, Pads on Campus. The article describes the reasoning behind not adding a code revision that would allow Student Government to fund menstrual products on campus that would be free to students. I say students because it is important to note that non-binary and transgender students may also use menstrual products, even if they do not identify with the binary gender “woman.”

When the President and I were elected, we decided we wanted to make free menstrual products on campus a reality. WSA had briefly discussed the possibility the year prior, but we did not have an opportunity to act on it. So, we created a service position on our executive board that would focus on making this happen. We picked strong, passionate leaders to fill this position. We did research over the summer, on top of studying for our GRE and LSAT exams. We found other schools that were implementing this and read articles about their process.

In July, we received an email from the Judiciary Committee asking for any WSA legislation ideas, much to our surprise. In this email, the Committee recognized the “prominent portion of the student body” we represent. Within mere days, we responded with a proposal for free menstrual products on campus.

After hearing no response, we handed over the job to WSA’s Service Director, Chase. She worked tirelessly to create a coalition of organizations to garner their support. She organized tabling in Turlington to encourage people to sign the petition and circulated it online. She worked day in and day out with Student Government and all of their complexities, and never wavered if they didn’t respond or put her on the bottom of their importance list.

All of this hard work comes down to: “…Various complaints, including that the funding would benefit only the female half of the UF Student Body,” and “the committee said the petition was unclear about how many signatures came from students and if the issue was also being voiced by male students.”

Because that’s the world we live in, right? Where men have to weigh in on whether something is meaningful and important (to them) to make it happen, even when over half of the student body benefits from it. If we just want to talk about women, they make up 55% of the student body according to USNews.

If Student Government is truly concerned about how many UF students are interested in this initiative, they can easily poll the students as they did when considering making two study spaces 24/7. Rather than attempt to ease their own concerns by taking action, they shot down the possibility of even voting on it. To fund this initiative, we would not even request an increase of fees but a re-allocation of money that we estimated to cost less than $3,000.

When will women be able to have something benefit them that does not simultaneously benefit men? (It literally cannot benefit men. Sorry you don’t bleed and can’t birth children!)

Women matter. Our opinions are valid, regardless of the male opinion. No one asks how many women benefit from something. (Is it true we paid for urinals with SG money? Let me know.)

“I will not have my life narrowed down. I will not bow down to somebody else's whim or to someone else's ignorance.”

― bell hooks