Gyeonggi Province Promotes Support for Menstrual Product Purchases for All Female Adolescents

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Park No-hun] Gyeonggi Province is planning to cooperate with municipalities and counties to provide financial support for menstrual product purchases to all female adolescents in the province starting next year. The project, first introduced by Yeoju City this year, has shown high satisfaction among female adolescents, leading to the decision to expand it across the entire province.

Gyeonggi Province announced on the 14th that it has formulated a plan for the female adolescent menstrual product support project and plans to provide 11,000 won per person per month, or 132,000 won per year, for health and hygiene product purchases in cooperation with municipalities and counties.

The health and hygiene product support project for female adolescents began in 2016 following the so-called 'insole sanitary pad' incident. Currently, female adolescents aged 11-18 among basic livelihood security recipients, legally low-income households, and single-parent family support beneficiaries receive 132,000 won per year from the government for menstrual product purchases. Approximately 24,000 female adolescents in Gyeonggi Province currently receive government support.

The province plans to provide menstrual product purchase support to the remaining 486,000 female adolescents, excluding these beneficiaries, out of a total of 510,000 female adolescents in the province.

Gyeonggi Province plans to provide provincial subsidies within 30% of total project costs to municipalities and counties participating in the menstrual product purchase support project. The province estimates that if all municipalities and counties participate, a total of 64 billion won will be invested next year.

Accordingly, the province plans to establish detailed implementation plans this month and request consultation with the Ministry of Health and Welfare on establishing a new social security system.

In relation to this, Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung posted on social media on the 13th: 'Gyeonggi Province is starting the female adolescent menstrual product support project!' expressing his commitment to pursuing the project.

Governor Lee, referencing the insole sanitary pad incident, said, "I can only imagine how those young hearts must have felt, and my heart still aches. Because of this, Seongnam City began providing menstrual pad support," and added, "Now many local governments provide menstrual products to low-income female adolescents, but many students are hurt and reluctant because of the stigmatizing effect of selective support only for those in difficult circumstances such as basic livelihood security recipients."

He continued, "That is why Yeoju City's 'Free Menstrual Pad for Female Adolescents' universal support project is significant," and emphasized, "I will adopt this as provincial policy so that Yeoju City's exemplary case can spread throughout Gyeonggi Province and provide provincial subsidies to all municipalities and counties implementing this policy."

He added, "I hope that this project, which started in Yeoju City and is spreading to Gyeonggi Province, will expand nationwide in a short time," and concluded, "Gyeonggi Province and each municipality and county will become a small pillar of support in the lives of our female adolescents."