If You Could Change One Thing in the World What Would It Be Essay Example

I'm not sure about all of you, but I know when I was attending to school my family did not send me to school with quarters. Imagine this, you're in middle school and you're using the bathroom when you finish, you wipe and see red on the toilet paper and your underwear.   You realize you have begun your period but you don't have money for a pad or a tampon. For many girls, this is a reality, girls will either start their period early and have no products on them or they forgot them at  home, either way this leads to the same ending. That awkward conversation with a teacher, friend, or another female asking for some hygiene products. Many female bathrooms do not even have the dispenser, as they have been removed, let alone some that are free. 

Some References on the Issue

Women can not always predict their periods as they come and go as they wish, well you can guess a ballpark area and there are actually some apps to help, but there happens to be some factors that can throw it off. When stress is added periods are more likely to happen early, younger and older people who are starting or ending may have hormonal imbalances that can cause it to be early or late, or even if you change your regular schedule around things that may seem simple that should not affect anything effect the female body. One student spoke unpleasantly about a experience she had about a miss calculated period she told University Wire "There was no tampons or pads in the restroom, so I had to use rolled up toilet paper" (Mclemore, L. (2016,).

Sometimes the only thing a student has to work with in the situation, which happens more than you would think, of not having what they need they have to use toilet paper, which most of the time is thin, and it does not really last well and you have to change it about every hour and a half if not sooner. Rolling toilet paper is a quick fix but it is uncomfortable, it doesn't help long term, and most of the girls that need to do that often are worried about bleeding through.

Reyes told them "I think tampons and pads should be treated like any other hygienic product, I look at it as if I were being asked to pay for toilet paper or soap" Finally Garaz also makes a statement "Students have access to other free hygiene products because it promotes good health practices…" Garaz also says "Women ought to have access to free hygiene products because of the same reason we all have access to free soap and water and drying units, at the end of the day, it supports good health practices" (Mclemore, L. (2016,). Students advocate free feminine products. University Wire).

The comparisons they used with other hygiene products is a perfect analogy because public places have these things for free as that is what's normal in society. Nobody is expected to pay for toilet paper or soap in bathrooms because it is normal hygiene that should be practiced and is encouraged, well so should changing your hygiene products along with having easy access to them when needed.

Paying for the Nature

Well periods are something we women have to deal with the cost is quite high, over the course of our lifetime, for something we did not ask for. Something people should take into consideration is the cost not just a quick glance, as it doesn't seem like much, but on the lifetime scale. "The average thirty-six tampons is seven dollars… On average, women may experience their periods for thirty-eight years.

Every twenty-eight days, a women will menstruate for 4.5 days, and is advised to change her tampon or pad every four to eight hours. Following these recommendations results in the use of eighteen tampons per month." After the lifetime of periods a women would spend "$1,946 over a woman's menstruating life, without accounting for additional products…" (Durkin, A. (2017).

Profitable menstruation: How the cost of feminine hygiene products is a battle against reproductive justice. Georgetown Journal of Gender and the Law, 18(1), 131.). Most times when women are on their period they have cramps and will buy some medicine for that along with one for nausea. Well most people don't think the cost is that much it all includes, imagine you lost one nickel every day for a year you would have lost $18.25 in just that one year.

Some people might be wondering how will public places pay for these then and how much it would cost it would not be much you can choose to put in the dispense, a one time cost, or you could do a wire basket to hold them you could get the actual hygiene products by donations of money or of the item or use the tax money made from people buying the product to go towards getting the product for public schools. 

Should They Really?

Well some people think women should just be prepared at all times and just pay up, that's foul as schools are giving away free condoms. This is quite unfair as you can choose to get some you can't choose to not get your period. This article is talking about how if youth need them they can get some condoms, some schools like this one would not even tell the parents or guardians as it would be a secret to all who is a recipient.

The article says "Receipt of condoms will be confidential; parents and guardians will not be informed…" (Nocera, J. (2019).Howard county high schools making free condoms available to students. Baltimore: Interactive, LLC.). Understanding the reasoning of this and it seems like a good program to help those who need them, but females also need the hygiene items and they are not having these opportunities. These students would then be able to get condoms, without others knowing, however choosing to do this program could cause more students to partake in the activity.

There is a choice if you want to have coitus unlike if you are a women you can not choose to when you ‘check into the red roof inn'. It's unjust to give out free condoms when sex is a choice but not give out free feminine hygiene when its something out of your control. Marineau states "Condoms and tampons are not equal, and should not continue to be equated… Comparing condoms to tampons is a relatively simple case of apples and oranges..."  she also says "condoms are provided free of charge in an attempt to aid low-income members of the community who might have issues purchasing these important items on their own" (Martineau, P. (2016, ).

Face it, people: Just pay for tampons. University Wire). Condoms and feminine hygiene are not equal you can decide to act on your urges or not you don't have a choice of the monthly bleeding. Understand that many of these schools in the article are having high levels of STDs, is not to say to get rid of the program that is in place, but to add to it by giving females the hygiene products they need. Having free hygiene available to females would also help those who would have issues purchasing the items on their own. Having free feminine hygiene would aid the lower income community members and teach young ladies the proper hygiene system.

Some people raise that insulin and epipens are not free and provided by schools. However some schools are being given free epipens and insulin. Although not all schools are doing this it does seem like a good thing. In fact some schools are being given the items along with some staff and "The pharmaceutical company will also give each school educational material on how to identify symptoms of a severe allergic reaction and respond in an emergency.", so they are also giving them ways to identify the situation and how to do their part.

Well not all schools are doing this it should be a more used outreach. Much the same as giving women the products they need for free would be good and should be a more common program. Not in any way trying to put that human lives are not important, as the supply of insulin and epipens would help people. Saying that having epipens and insulin along with feminine hygiene products would be of help to the students.

Many people always say to just buy the products you need and that they are not expensive. This is often an overlooked problem as people only look at the cost once rather than how many times it would be purchased within the lifetime or a specific time frame. Also some public schools have families that may not be able to make these recurring costs, and are having to pay for other needs.

Everyone's financial situations are different, and if they can pay for the product and keep some on them at all times that's great, but there are also those who can't afford them and deserve not to have to use toilet paper and worry about bleeding through. Those low income families with females having these issues also miss days of school sometimes due to the lack of resources.

Awkward Ideas

Some people say to just use toilet paper. This is just a really bad idea. It is true that a person can use toilet paper, paper towel, or napkins as substitutes as long as they dont use it as a tampon it is not a recommend solution, and females who are use to tampons are warned against using toilet paper and other items as a tampon as it can cause infection.

Students that have had to do this in the past will know what is being talked about. The students that have had to use toilet paper before may have experienced that it was very uncomfortable and they may have been worried about bleeding through, because of this they would have to visit the bathroom often to either change the toilet paper or shift it. Well using toilet paper can be a quick fix for a short period of time, that's all it is. This is not something that is good to do for many hours or even a whole day.

Some people are worried that the tampons would be abused if they were free. However students would be likely to correct that issue on their own as they would get mad if someone used the product inappropriately and they needed it, so if you have a set amount each day in each female bathroom it would work itself out. For those who don't think they would keep each other accountable.

There is another way, but it would include some extra cost. If the school gets the dispenser then they could have a computer program that would let the students scan their student ID and get a free product, they could have a set cap on it and have it set at about five products per day per student. That way the students feel held accountable and there would be less of a chance of the system to get abused.

As you can see there are always to sides two everything. But if we can make the world better for people shouldn't we take the chance? Yes, there are other programs that could get put in place, go and fight for what you believe, but also maybe we should get females the products they need. One program at a time, and maybe eventually we can have a better world for our families to grow up in. Let's work together to find ways to help make females lives a little less of a bloody hell.