Four distributors have been placed at the University of Nîmes -

Louise Da Costa / Trace

  • The Minister of Higher Education, Frédérique Vidal, has promised to offer all students free hygiene protection at the start of the next school year.

  • But in Occitania, initiatives already exist: in Montpellier, a lecturer, Mélanie Jaoul, has set up baskets offering towels and tampons, in the toilets of her establishment, from 2019.

  • In Montpellier and Nîmes, distributors for the Breton company Marguerite & Cie have also been set up, thanks to the action of student associations.

In Occitania, we did not wait for the promise of Frédérique Vidal, the Minister of Higher Education, to make hygienic protections available to students.

In Montpellier (Hérault) and Nîmes (Gard), initiatives have flourished in recent years to offer the most vulnerable with towels or tampons.

In 2019, Mélanie Jaoul, lecturer in law at Montpellier Management, had the idea of ​​placing small baskets in the toilets of her establishment, with hygienic protections.

“It is difficult, if not almost impossible, for some students to access,” says the teacher.

When they have paid their charges, they only have 80 to 100 euros a month left, to eat, buy periodic protection, and all the extras.

With my limited resources, my network, I installed boxes, and I stocked them, so that these students no longer have to think about it.

And it was a real success right away.

“The students passed on the information on social networks,” continues Mélanie Jaoul.

I filled the box once or even several times a week.

And other students and administrative staff have also taken over.

"

Baskets were installed by Mélanie Jaoul at Montpellier Management - Mélanie Jaoul

Four distributors in Nîmes

At Paul-Valéry University, it was in February 2020 that a similar initiative was launched.

Within the Solidarity Space, a distributor of padded towels and tampons with and without an applicator has been set up, at the instigation of several student associations.

But it is at the University of Nîmes (Gard) that these distributors are the most numerous: four were installed last September on the different campuses, three on the Vauban site, one on the Hoche site and another on the Carmes .

In the toilets, "for more discretion and practicality," said the university.

It was Louise Da Costa, president of the transfilière association against student precariousness, who carried out this project, drawing on the experience of Rennes-II students.

Cost of the operation: 19,000 euros, collected thanks to an envelope of the contribution to student and campus life (CVEC) of the university (13,000 euros) and Crous (6,000 euros).

Supported by the university services, the association regularly recharges the dispenser, in packages of 100 towels, and 200 tampons with and without an applicator.

A distributor of Marguerite et Cie placed at the University of Nîmes - Louisa Da Costa / Trace

2.6% of the students questioned feel “all the time” in menstrual precariousness

“We will fill them out once a week, or every two weeks,” says Louise Da Costa.

It seems important to me all the same, in a period when we do not yet have many face-to-face classes.

In normal times, without the Covid-19 crisis, I am convinced that inventory management would have been much more important.

"

The Nîmes association supported the installation of these distributors with a survey of students.

Thus, out of the 662 respondents, 22.8% indicated that they had not already been able to obtain hygienic protection due to “lack of money” and 10.6% for “shame to go and buy it”.

Among them, 2.6%, or 17 students, even feel “all the time” in menstrual precariousness.

"I am quite proud to have carried this project before it became democratized, to know that mentalities are changing, and that we do not stand stuck looking at poverty," says Louise Da Costa.

Organic cotton and natural cellulose napkins and tampons

The distributors located in Montpellier and Nîmes were designed by Marguerite & Cie.

"Louise is one of the pioneers", smiles Gaële Le Noane, the founder of this Breton company.

“These distributors are rented, free,” she explains.

The customers assemble them themselves, it's very, very simple.

What pays off are the products that are placed inside, that are sent to them regularly.

And these napkins and tampons, they're 100% organic cotton and natural cellulose.

“There are no chemical elements, and zero plastic,” notes Gaële Le Noane.

Today, Marguerite & Cie has installed 500 distributors in France and Switzerland, in 210 establishments, or 1.4 million tampons and towels per month.

And the company should actively participate in the minister's promise to offer free hygienic protection to all students at the start of the next school year.

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