BREAKING THE CYCLE: A COMPREHENSIVE STUDY ON MENSTRUAL EQUITY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA

Abstract

Menstrual equity is a critical global health issue that affects billions of people around the world. Menstrual equity is a term used to define the systemic issues that affect the ability to adequately access menstrual products, washing facilities, waste management, and any other menstrual hygiene tools and education. Current estimates show that a quarter of college students that menstruate struggle with adequately accessing menstrual products at any point during the year, which can affect a student’s ability to regularly attend class. Due to the understood and assumed need for action to promote menstrual equity on the University of Arizona campus, a survey of undergraduate students was created, conducted, and analyzed to provide evidence to advocate for more free menstrual products on campus. Based on the survey results, 86.24% of respondents reported that adding more locations with free menstrual products on the University of Arizona campus would increase their ability to access menstrual products. In addition, respondents agreed that the University can do a better job at providing free menstrual products on campus. On top of needing an increase in free menstrual products on campus, there also needs to be an increase in knowledge of existing resources, as 76.6% of respondents reported not knowing about any on-campus resources. Overall, there needs to be an increase in education of current resources and increase in available resources to move towards menstrual equity at the University of Arizona.