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Equity and Empowerment for Menstruators
 

Menstrual Products Initiative 

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Effective September 20th, 2021: Wings is excited to announce that JHFRE (Johns Hopkins Facilities and Real Estate) will continue to support the 20 menstrual product dispensers on campus!

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MPI

This pilot program, planned and organized by Wings, funded by the Office of Women & Gender Resources, and co-sponsored by the Office of the Dean of Student Life, aims to provide tampons and pads from HOSPECO free of cost to any JHU student, employee, faculty or affiliate.

This initiative will span 10 weeks from 2/10/2020 - 4/20/2020. Dispensers will be installed in 10 female or all-gender bathrooms across campus.

Dispensers will be installed at these locations across campus.

Dispensers will be installed at these locations across campus.

What is the Menstrual Products Initiative pilot program? How will it change things for you and those around you?

The Menstrual Products Initiative (MPI) pilot program taking place this spring semester will provide pads and tampons from HOSPECO, free of cost to any JHU student, employee, faculty or affiliate in 10 restrooms across campus. The initiative will span 10 weeks, starting on Monday, February 10th, 2020 and ending on Monday, April 20th, 2020. 

This pilot program is organized and planned by the student-led service organization Wings, co-implemented by the Facilities and Custodial Services teams, funded by the Office of Women & Gender Resources (WGR), co-sponsored by the Office of the Dean of Student Life (DOSL) and has been supported by countless other organizations such as the Student Government Association, among others. During the 10 week pilot, dispensers are installed in 10 female or all-gender restrooms across campus (see list below). The volunteer restocking effort will be led by JHU students and affiliates, who have been thoroughly trained to restock on a weekly basis and monitor their assigned dispensers. Any comments and feedback should be directed to Wings JHU (wingsjhu@gmail.com), through the forms linked on flyers across campus as well as online on their website and social media pages.

The ultimate goal of the MPI pilot program is to promote menstrual and gender equity by providing free menstrual products to the JHU community on a need-basis, and to reduce the number of emergencies that students, faculty and employees face regularly due to the unpredictable timing of menstrual cycles. With products available in bathrooms, it may provide a smoother experience for menstruators on campus, improve performance at work and in class and combat the lack of access to an expensive health necessity. Student representatives in SGA have been voicing support and writing bills for menstrual products in bathrooms since as early as 2016, various faculty members and staff have been in conversation for years expressing their concern for their students, and Wings, founded by Chanel Lee and Bridget Chen in March of 2017, has assembled a team to execute, plan and organize an initiative with the support of Hopkins administrators -- ultimately many efforts in the institution have aligned and finally culminated to bring about this long-awaited initiative. Therefore, assessing the response to the MPI will be crucial, and the feedback collected on surveys and the need measured through usage, will inform the university’s preparation for a long-term program.

What informed the logistics, planning and decision-making around the MPI?

Wings circulated a campus-wide survey called “Menstrual Products in JHU Bathrooms: Needs and Climate Assessment”, in late December 2018 - January 2019, which gathered over 1000 responses from the JHU Homewood community (this number is inclusive of students, staff and faculty). With the overwhelmingly positive responses gathered from this survey, detailed in the pre-initiative survey response summary and below-- the conversation between Wings, Women and Gender Resources, DOSL, Facilities and other administrators regarding a potential menstrual products initiative started to rapidly gain momentum.

The ten restrooms for the MPI were selected with careful consideration of many factors --geographic location, usage, and traffic-- allowing the initiative to provide emergency products to as many students and employees as possible, when most needed. Below is a list of the 10 locations where you may find MPI products. Also listed are the locations of other sources of menstrual products, that have not in the past been well-known - but are nonetheless additional emergency resources to the JHU community.

Products are available primarily in the following 10 restrooms stocked with MPI products:

  • Wyman Park Building – 1st floor all-gender restroom (behind security)

  • Hackerman Hall – 1st floor female restroom

  • Hodson Hall – 2nd floor female restroom (entrance floor from Garland Hall)

  • Gilman Hall – 2nd floor female restroom (atrium floor)

  • Shaffer Hall – 2nd floor all-gender restroom (entrance floor from Wyman Quad)

  • Mattin Center – 1st floor female restroom (Offit Building)

  • Brody Learning Commons – M Level female restroom 

  • Brody Learning Commons – B Level female restroom (half staircase down from the atrium)

  • Mudd Hall – 1st floor female restroom (across from Mudd 26)

  • Bloomberg Center for Physics and Astronomy - 2nd floor female restroom (entrance floor)

Students would be comfortable seeing products in female and all- gender restrooms, and are largely impartial to stocked male bathrooms (not shown)

Students would be comfortable seeing products in female and all- gender restrooms, and are largely impartial to stocked male bathrooms (not shown)

Students perceive the Menstrual Products Initiative to be potentially very helpful to the JHU community

Students perceive the Menstrual Products Initiative to be potentially very helpful to the JHU community

Most students are inclined and interested in using these products for emergencies and occasionally.

Most students are inclined and interested in using these products for emergencies and occasionally.

Here are some fast links to logistical aspects of the MPI:

If you would like to learn more about this program, its development and future progress, two full-length reports as well as other information can be accessed through these links. One report, titled the Consortium on Financing Higher Education (COFHE) Benchmarking Report, details all the data extracted from peer institutions that have rolled out similar menstrual products initiatives and the other report, titled “Menstrual Products in JHU Bathrooms: Needs and Climate Assessment” Pre-initiative Survey Response Summary compiles campus-wide data we collected at JHU that informed the foundation of this initiative.

Here is a brief timeline of history and development of the MPI, reported by various media outlets including the JHU News-Letter:

Because this is a pilot program, it is one of Wings’, Women and Gender Resources’, Facilities’ and the Dean of Student Life’s  primary goals to collect data and metrics of the usage and the response to this program. Positive feedback, criticisms, comments, questions, inquiries are gladly welcomed through this survey “MPI: February Feedback Form”, especially if this initiative has served you or someone you know. We will also be having monthly check-ins and feedback events during the pilot program itself, please follow Wings JHU on Facebook or Instagram to attend these events. The first feedback event will be on Wednesday February 19th, 2020 at Wings’ “Nugs for Hugs” survey outreach and fundraiser event.  Your feedback and assistance in measuring the impact of this program will help us plan the long-term program for the university, especially if this pilot program is a success.

The time is now, and every indication around us is pointing JHU in this same direction. Countless other universities across the nation have joined what is called The Menstrual Movement, and have already started these programs. Some institutions, such as Brown, Princeton, Yale, Cornell, and Harvard have even moved beyond their pilot stage and implemented long-term programs. The Menstrual Products Initiative pilot program is a crucial and a huge step forward and Hopkins is ready to join this movement.

Why is this important? Why now?

JHU HUB articles

Week 1

  • https://hub.jhu.edu/announcements/2020/02/10/jhu-menstrual-products-initiative-pilot-program-free-menstrual-products-coming-to-10-jhu-homewood-restroom-started-february-10th-ends-apr-20th/

Week 2

  • https://hub.jhu.edu/announcements/2020/02/17/jhu-menstrual-products-initiative-pilot-program-second-week/

Week 3

  • https://hub.jhu.edu/announcements/2020/02/24/menstrual-product-initiative-mpi-week-3-0/

Week 4

  • https://hub.jhu.edu/announcements/2020/03/05/menstrual-product-initiative-mpi-week-4/