Asked the City Manager to work with the Department of Public Works, the Cambridge Public Libraries, the Department of Public Health, and all other relevant departments to provide free menstrual products in all gender bathrooms of the Cambridge Public Library branches

How it started

Apr 3, 2023 · Proposed by Vice Mayor Mallon, Mayor Siddiqui, and Councillors Nolan, Simmons, McGovern, and Zondervan: a formal request from the Council to the administration.

What happened

Apr 3, 2023 · Amendment carried Moved by Councillor Marc McGovern; carried.

POR 2023 #57 by adding the words “the Cambridge Fire Department,” and “and the City’s Fire Stations;” to the first “ORDERED” so that it reads: “ORDERED: That the City Manager be and hereby is requested to work with the Department of Public Works, the Cambridge Public Libraries, the Cambridge Fire Department, the Department of Public Health, and all other relevant departments to provide free menstrual products in all gender bathrooms of the Cambridge Public Library branches, and the City's Fire Stations; and be it further”

The clerk's words, from the minutes of Apr 3, 2023, p. 16.

Apr 3, 2023 · ✅ Order adopted as amended. The Council's request went to the City Manager. (unanimous)

View the roll call

Voted yes (9), unanimous

Burhan Azeem
Dennis Carlone
Alanna Mallon
Marc McGovern
Patty Nolan
E. Denise Simmons
Paul F. Toner
Quinton Zondervan
Sumbul Siddiqui

Roll call of Apr 3, 2023 · from the council’s minutes · photos: City of Cambridge

What’s next

⌛ No response on the docket: nothing has been filed back under this request's number. Answers sometimes arrive as other items; this ledger tracks only this one.

The document Agenda item attachment · 1 page

🏛 This item on the city's site 📄 Download original PDF

O-2

Access to menstrual products is essential to the welfare and wellbeing for all people; and

The growing unhoused community in Cambridge lacks basic access to these products due to economic factors, unstable access to public restrooms, and more; and

Lack of access to these products leaves individuals in a state of “period poverty,” ultimately resulting in unsanitary conditions that are otherwise preventable with access to pads, tampons, menstrual discs, cups, and more; and

Many states such as California and Maryland already provide access to menstrual products in public female restrooms; and

Cambridge already provides free menstrual products in Cambridge Public School girls’ restrooms, Cambridge youth centers, 5 Western Ave, and Cambridge City Hall; and

Library branches are another key location where members of the unhoused community can use a public restroom; and

The Cambridge Youth Council has advocated for the expanded placement of these products for all people and recognizes the importance of having access to menstrual products; and

Expanding this access to include all gender bathrooms at all branches of the Cambridge Public Library would greatly increase the amount of people who are able to access these products, and in turn provide an essential service to them; now therefore be it

ORDERED: That the City Manager be and hereby is requested to work with the Department of Public Works, the Cambridge Public Libraries, the Department of Public Health, and all other relevant departments to provide free menstrual products in all gender bathrooms of the Cambridge Public Library branches; and be it further

ORDERED: That the City Manager be and hereby is requested to report back on this matter by the April 24, 2023 regular City Council meeting.

🗓 The meeting where this was taken up: Apr 3, 2023