Engender blog

Free period products, when and where we need them

In this blog, Engender's Communications and Engagement Manager, Alys Mumford, talks about our continuing work to ensure access to free period products.

A common trope seen in film and TV is a woman being caught short in a nightclub toilet and being met with dozens of new friends proffering tampons and pads. And while I do have experience on both sides of this scene, I also have memories of sneaking a pad up the sleeve of my school jumper when going to the loo, wearing a hoodie tied round my waist on a freezing day in case I was leaking, using a code word to talk about tampons on holiday (‘cereal bars’ in case you’re wondering, and no I can’t remember why), and stressing out when a borrowed tampon had an applicator which I’d never used before.

Lack of access to appropriate period products can also lead to girls missing school, women having to take days off from paid work, people using unhygienic alternatives such as newspaper, and withdrawing from leisure activities.

Honouring Emma’s Legacy

We’ve been overwhelmed, and so touched, at the tributes which have been left for our Executive Director, Emma Ritch.

From the Turkish Women’s Lobby who worked with Emma on protecting the Istanbul Convention, to people who attended Rape Crisis Scotland volunteer training with her many years ago, it’s clear that Emma’s impact on feminism went far beyond her (incredible) feminist policy work with Engender.

We're relieved that Emma’s wit, her love for stationery, and her strategically deployed eyebrows also didn’t go unmentioned in people’s messages of condolence.

But by far the clearest message throughout the tributes left for Emma, though, was the need to continue her legacy. Emma was an inspirational woman, but she would be the first to say she was just one small part of a broad movement for change. Everything she did, she did standing on the shoulders of our feminist mothers, aunts, and big sisters.

Many people have been in contact asking about memorial services, commemorative awards, and other ways to honour Emma’s memory, and the Engender board will be discussing these with Emma’s family in the coming months. For now, though, Emma’s legacy will be that we continue, with compassion but a steely intent, her work for women’s equality and rights.

There is still so much to do. The commitment to incorporate CEDAW into Scots Law, surely one of Emma’s greatest achievements, needs to be seen through. Supporting intersectional feminism in Scotland, to ensure that no woman is left behind. And the vital work of gender mainstreaming, of making sure that Equality Impact Assessments have teeth, and the constant fight for good data gathering.

But one of Emma’s last acts at Engender was to speak to journalist Karin Goodwin at the Ferret about the future of democracy in Scotland, and we thought it was fitting to end on Emma’s own words:

"Advocates for women’s equality have to be optimists.

Complacency is one of the biggest things standing in the way, but we know that there is huge appetite for doing things differently among the women of Scotland. Change takes time, but movements like Me Too, Black Lives Matter, and Say her Name, are chipping away at the pillars propping up our unequal society.”

We will continue the fight for justice in honour of, and spurred on by memories of, our brilliant Executive Director Emma Ritch.

Love and sisterhood,

Engender's staff team and Board of Directors

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Emma’s tribute page will remain open for people to leave their memories and words of condolence, and you can share yours here: engender.org.uk/rememberingemma

Donations:

If you would like to leave a donation in Emma's memory, details of the two charities chosen by Emma's family are:

Glasgow Women's Library

Donations can be made via the donations page on the GWL online shop. People will be able to donate via PayPal, and Emma can be named in the 'order notes' field.

British Heart Foundation

Donations can be made in memory of Emma online, by phone or by post. Full details are here.

Announcing the death of Emma Ritch, Engender's Executive Director

It is with profound sadness we share the news that our Executive Director, Emma Ritch, passed away suddenly on Friday 9th July.

GUEST POST: Bridging the gender health gap

Women and girls face significant barriers to good mental and physical health. Historic lack of funding for, or professional focus on, health issues that disproportionately affect women, or affect women differently to men, can mean that these issues are not equally accommodated for in health services or awareness-raising initiatives. This anonymous guest blog explores gendered health inequalities and what progress is being made on bridging the gender health gap.

It took roughly six years of medical appointments before a tentative diagnosis of chronic pain – a condition that, by definition, is pain lasting longer than three months despite treatment. Part of the issue was that the pain, among other symptoms, had never really been treated; it was repeatedly misdiagnosed, from appendicitis to pregnancy, and continuously dismissed as stress or growing pains.

It was a strange relief to eventually be referred to an endometriosis specialist and women’s heath physiotherapist session, though the relief was short-lived – while I did receive some pain management, the former concluded that the pain did not appear severe enough to suggest the presence of the condition, nor warrant further investigation, and the latter prescribed mindfulness. Like many others, until recently I had never heard of endometriosis – despite its high prevalence rate and top ranking in the NHS’ 20 most painful conditions. I also found that, like many other people, my experience of healthcare was not unique. In recent years, there has been increasing awareness and recognition of such experiences as symptomatic of a wider issue: a gender disparity in medical research, knowledge and treatment that has amounted to a gender health gap.