Text of HI SCR 27 (2023)
Urging The University Of Hawaii System To Provide Menstrual Products, Free Of Charge, To Students At All Of Its University, Community College, And Education Center Campuses As Part Of A Public Health And Education Equity Strategy That Addresses Economic Disparities.
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As introduced
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THE SENATE
S.C.R. NO.
27
THIRTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2023
STATE OF HAWAII
SENATE CONCURRENT
RESOLUTION
requesting the University of Hawaii to support ending
menstrual inequity by providing menstrual products to all persons, free of
charge, in all University of Hawaii restrooms.
WHEREAS,
the University of Hawaii is statutorily prohibited from depriving the
privileges of the University to a person on the basis of sex; and
WHEREAS, eighty
percent of menstruating students in the State experience difficulties accessing
menstrual products; and
WHEREAS,
menstruating students unable to access menstrual products face a significant
barrier to education that biologically male students do not, as a lack of
access to menstrual products can limit full educational participation and
negatively impact a student's access to learning; and
WHEREAS,
"period poverty", or the inability to access menstrual products,
disproportionately affects menstruating students, members of low-income
households, individuals who identify as nonbinary or transgender, and many
other groups of individuals; and
WHEREAS, according
to a 2021 study conducted by the Hawaii State Commission on the Status of Women
and Mai Movement Hawaii, lack of access to menstrual products contributes to
higher rates of school absenteeism in the State, with forty-two percent of
respondents missing class or leaving school early due to lack of access to
menstrual products, and some missing as many as ten days per academic year due
to a lack of access to menstrual products; and
WHEREAS,
chronic absenteeism is one of the most powerful indicators of student success
or failure; and
WHEREAS, a
midyear assessment of Mai Movement Hawaii's 2021 Hoohanohano Initiative, a pilot
project that distributes menstrual products to students at certain schools on
the islands of Oahu, Hawaii, Maui, and Kauai, found convincing evidence that
free menstrual products have positive educational impacts and decreased the number
of students who missed at least one school day due to lack of access to
menstrual products by more than fifty percent; and
WHEREAS,
the University of Hawaii should uphold educational and gender equity by
providing free menstrual products to all persons utilizing University restrooms;
now, therefore,
BE IT
RESOLVED by the Senate of the Thirty-second Legislature of the State of Hawaii,
Regular Session of 2023, the House of Representatives concurring, that the
University of Hawaii is requested to support ending menstrual inequity by providing
menstrual products to all persons, free of charge, in all University of Hawaii
restrooms, including those of the community colleges; and
BE IT FURTHER
RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the
President of the University of Hawaii.
OFFERED BY:
_____________________________
Report Title:
University
of Hawaii; Menstrual Inequity; Menstrual Products