Federal employers will be required to spend an estimated over $16.6 million annually to provide workers with menstrual products if proposed regulatory changes are implemented to fulfill a Labour Program mandate, according to a government analysis report.
“The absence of menstrual products in the workplace can translate into physical and psychological health and safety risks for menstruating employees,” reads the
report titled “Regulatory Impact Analysis Statement,” dated Oct. 15.
“This could include turning to improvised solutions or avoiding the workplace due to anxiety, shame and stigma, and could impact mental health, performance and productivity.”
Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan Jr. announced in an Oct. 14
news release that the proposed regulatory amendments are now available for comment in the Canada Gazette. The amendments to the sanitation provisions in the Occupational Health and Safety Regulations, made under the Canada Labour Code, would require federally regulated employers, such as airlines and banks, to provide employees with free menstrual products in the workplace, as first reported by Blacklock’s Reporter.
The Canada Labour Code already
requires federal employers to provide workers with “basic sanitation products” like toilet paper and soap.
The new analysis provided an estimate of how much employers will have to spend on menstrual products over a 10-year period, from 2024 to 2033. To provide workers with just tampons and menstrual pads, excluding the cost of buying product dispensers and disposal containers, would amount to over
$10.4 million annually.
The amendments also require federal employers to provide menstrual products and install disposal containers not only in women’s washrooms, but also in men’s washrooms, “to ensure inequality does not exist.”
“This will ensure that the unique needs of non-binary individuals, transgender men, and intersex people are also addressed,” reads the
report.
The report adds that “approximately 35%” of federal employees require menstrual products and that expecting them to buy their own puts a financial burden on low-earning workers.
“The financial burden is particularly heavy for low-income earners and marginalized individuals who menstruate, including Indigenous and 2SLGBTQI+ people,” said the report.
Reasons the report gave for providing federal workers with menstrual products include building “a more inclusive Canada,” addressing “systemic inequities, such as gender-based discrimination,” and promoting “fairness and equality.”
“We’d never ask people to bring their own toilet paper to work. So why do we do that with menstrual products? We’re changing that,” said O’Regan in a
news release.
Marci Ien, minister for women and gender equality and youth,
said that “all barriers to accessing them [menstrual products] need to be broken down.”
“This initiative is a step in the right direction to reach menstrual equity and advance gender equality in the workplace,” she said.
