Reduce the cost of rules
Since 2015, the "pink tax" no longer exists (until then, hygienic products were subject to VAT at 20%, compared to 5.5% since). But having your period continues to be expensive: according to studies, between 8,000 and 23,000 euros over the course of a lifetime! To the 15,000 protections required, we must add the cost of appointments with the gynecologist, care in case of pain. According to figures from Opinion Way, nearly 4 million French women do not have the means to buy hygienic protection, including a quarter of young people, says Maud Leblon, executive director of the association Elementary Rules, which leads to health risks, such as infections. In recent years, she is delighted to see universities such as Rennes 2, business schools, schools and schools in secondary and higher education, installing distributors of hygienic products within them.
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On March 7, Elisabeth Borne announced that reusable periodic protections (washable sanitary napkins, panties and menstrual cups) will be reimbursed from 2024 by Social Security for those under 25. An initiative welcomed by many, including Gaëlle Baldassari, founder of the movement Kiffe ton cycle (provider of a "menstrual education"), who wants the public authorities to go as far as free education. Because this reimbursement represents a drop in the ocean of the overall cost of the rules, only 3 to 5% of the protections being reusable. "The management of these reusable products is complicated for people in great precariousness, nuances Maud Leblon. This measure must really serve the target people." Another downside is the lack of perspective on the real safety and effectiveness of these recent protections.
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Arrange pain leave
In Spain, menstrual leave for women with painful periods became law on February 16. In France, ecologist and socialist deputies are also working on bills to create leave for all, paid, respectful of medical confidentiality, and the prime minister at the end of April assured to be "looking at the device". Going through a law? On this side of the Pyrenees, opinions diverge, while local experiences are multiplying, led for example by the town hall of Saint-Ouen (Seine-Saint-Denis).
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On the corporate side, Carrefour, which employs 50,000 women, will implement endometriosis leave – not menstrual leave, preferring to focus on the most common pathology – as of July 1. A strong sign, but based on a precise criterion, chosen for the sake of "efficiency and simplicity, on the advice of associations that are experts in the field," explains Carine Kraus, director of engagement at the Carrefour group. The measure targets "women in RQTH (recognition of quality of disabled worker), who will benefit from one day per month of automatically paid absence, without the need to go see their doctor each month". For employees who often work in physical jobs (stores, warehouses), it is a well-being, the group sees it as a triple gain: "in terms of health and efficiency at work, because it prevents suffering women from coming to work; in terms of employer branding, as it reinforces the group's attractiveness; And in terms of organization, it reduces unannounced sick leave."
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A positive initiative that, Carine Kraus hopes, should inspire other groups. "Some believe that it is not up to the company to develop such devices, others that it goes against the advances of feminist struggles," tempers Aline Bœuf, doctoral student in sociology at the University of Geneva, auditioned on this bill. Where menstrual leave already exists experimentally, it is very little used, says the researcher, too complex administratively, and for fear that private data will be transmitted to the employer. Is menstrual leave likely to backfire on those it is supposed to protect? "The 2 monthly days of rest granted represent 600 days in a career, calculated Gaëlle Baldassari. There will inevitably be a loss of opportunities for employees," she said. Some are thinking instead about temporary leave, allowing them to make medical appointments. Beware, however, of opportunistic companies that could practice "periodwashing", with measures that would only concern too few employees.
Better screening for endometriosis
In January 2022, Emmanuel Macron announced the launch of a national strategy to fight endometriosis, a disease that affects 2 million French women, accompanied by a research funding program of 20 million euros. More than a year later, what has changed? "Endometriosis now occupies a media space," admits Gaëlle Baldassari, of Kiffe ton cycle. Yasmine Candau, president of the Endofrance association, explains: "Today, we are building regional care channels." The goal? "Achieve multidisciplinary care, with a therapeutic alliance, between treatment, surgery and supportive care."
Endometriosis now occupies a media space
Gaëlle Baldassari, from Kiffe ton cycle
If the diagnosis still takes seven years on average, therapeutic wandering could decrease thanks to the innovation of the start-up Ziwig. With his teams, Yahya El Mir, founder, has developed a non-invasive diagnostic tool, based on microRNA analysis. Practical (a saliva test is sufficient), reliable and economical (it would avoid thousands of annual diagnostic surgeries), the Endotest is already available in eleven countries and discussions initiated in France with the High Authority for Health to consider reimbursement. Articles, scientific books, conferences, and even graphic novels... The need for information on this disease (but also on other disorders such as polycystic ovary syndrome or adenomyosis) remains immense. "During three years of investigation, I became aware of the extent of the problem and the lack of knowledge," confirms Camille Grange, journalist, author with illustrator Mathilde Manka of the documentary comic strip Les Lésions dangereuses (Flush Editions).
Intimate health, an object of feminist struggle
"We can now talk about the rules without having the impression of saying 'Kalashnikov'!" laughs Gaëlle Baldassari. Instagram accounts are multiplying, such as Elementary Rules or Menstruaction, exchange in an uninhibited, light, committed way. Artists are also present. In 2015, Canadian Rupi Kaur led a vendetta against Instagram for censoring a self-portrait of her lying on her back, stained with blood.
The photographer Marianne Rosenstiehl in 2014 takes up the subject with a remarkable series, The Curse, while Laëtitia Bourget paints motifs based on her own blood on handkerchiefs. As early as 1978, the American feminist Gloria Steinem wondered what a world would look like where... Men would have their periods. This is where the powerful comic strip by Camille Besse and Éric La Blanche was born. Superman and his "super-rules", Darth Vader regretting being menopausal..., If men had their periods (Ed. Le Lombard) skilfully illustrates the political dimension of intimate health.