Scotland and period poverty: A case study of media and political agenda-setting

Abstract

Grassroot-led global social movements have become increasingly prominent on mainstream media and political agendas. In Scotland, several of these have resulted in significant policy change, including the period poverty movement, which addresses inequalities relating to menstruation. The chapter looks to this movement as a case study, showing how several interventions have led the country to be hailed a world leader in policies providing free access to menstrual products. It will analyse the conditions under which this movement first took hold in Scotland in 2016, moving chronologically from the first mention of the term "period poverty" in legacy media. It will show how the increasing visibility and discursive realisation, or crystallization, of the term itself fuelled further activism to influence the political agenda. In doing so, it will show the increasingly hybrid and circuitous dynamic of contemporary political communication and how taking a holistic approach to viewing this may give added insight to appraisals of media and political agenda setting.

Introduction: The Period Products (Free Provision) (Scotland) Act 2021 in the Context of Menstrual Politics and History

“…There remains little research focused on menstruation in Scotland (but for particular aspects, see Strange, 2012;Macrae, 2016;and Wiseman, 2020). McKay's (2021) is the first article to cover period poverty policies, though extensive scholarship exists on current Scottish politics in relation to gender (e.g., Breitenbach, 2020;Jackson, 2020;Keating, 2020;and Ritch, 2019). Our collection is distinguished, however, by its transnational approach: capitalising on existing knowledge about menstrual politics and history in other countries, it sets the Scottish law in context of the rest of the UK (see Vostral, 2022), the US (Ghanoui, 2022;Spencer, 2022), andRussia (Vasilyev, 2022).…”

“…These products are primarily intended to provide for the significant number of people in Scotland who cannot afford to buy them, thus responding directly to the issue of what has become widely known as Period Poverty (McKay, 2021). Rather than limiting or means-testing the beneficiaries of this scheme, however, the Scottish Parliament was the first to take the step of declaring access to free period products a universal right.…”

“…The process of passing the Period Products Act began with and was accompanied by years of work and lobbying by Scottish, British and international activists. The campaigns were driven by groups and charities as diverse as the nationalist network Women for Independence, the sports campaign group On the Ball, the volunteering group Girlguiding Scotland, the trade union Unite, the anti-poverty charity Community Food Initiatives North East, the political organisation Scottish Youth Parliament, the social enterprise Hey Girls, as well as numerous individual schools and local initiatives (McKay, 2021). Many campaigners, such as Women for Independence, presented access to free menstrual products as a gender equality issue, insofar as it helps to alleviate an additional financial, social and organisational burden for those who menstruate, that is, primarily girls and women.…”

“…Though the Government initially denied it had any such intentions, the idea echoed through the press and among campaigners (McKay, 2021). Between 2017 and 2019, the Government agreed to several funding streams to provide period products in schools, with Aberdeen serving as a pilot study (Scottish Government, 2018).…”

“…Such a promotion of women's rights is typical not only of menstrual politics, but also of the current moment in Scottish politics. Since its foundation in 1999, the Scottish Parliament has been committed to equal representation of male and female parliamentarians and has been particularly active in political initiatives to support women's equality with men, for instance, in the areas of breast-feeding, maternity, equal pay, equal representation, women's health and menopause policies, and through the provision of the 'baby boxes' for new parents (McKay, 2021;Breitenbach, 2020;MacKay and Kenny, 2020;Ritch, 2019). The Period Products Act fits this trajectory.…”