30 Jan

Free menstrual products at TU

What do we want?
Free menstrual products at TU!
When do we want this? Now!

Key Info

On 9.1.2023, the pilot project for free menstrual products has started at the TU Berlin. As part of this, free menstrual products will be available for TU students and staff at selected locations. We will collect feedback and see how high the consumption is in order to further expand this offer for university members and to offer it at more and more locations on campus.

The test phase we conducted lasted until the end of April and the project was handed over to the Coordinating Office for Women’s Advancement and Gender Equality (KFG) and the university management for its further development and long-term establishment.

For further and up-to-date information on the project

Project Webpage

Locations

There are currently no menstrual product available. The project has not been continued consistently by the university management. We are working on making more pressure!

Main building

  • Toilet next to H 0100A (women’s toilet) (barrier-free)
    ground floor, very close to auditorium H 0104 and H 0105 (Audimax)
  • Gender-neutral toilet H 3002A
    3rd floor
  • Coordinating Office for Women’s Advancement and Gender Equality
    H 1108
    1st floor, area 1K
  • Family Services Office H 1111
    1st floor, area 1K

Maths building

  • MA 004A (women’s toilet)
    ground floor behind the main entrance on the right
  • MA 161 (women’s and men’s toilets) barrier-free
    accessible via the lift on the 1st floor

EB building

  • Toilets (women’s and men’s) barrier-free
    ground floor at the exit towards Straße des 17. Juni
  • Toilets EB 206 (women’s and men’s toilets)
    2nd floor

AStA (TK-building)

  • Gender-neutral toilet barrier-free
    ground floor behind the entrance on the left (in front of TK 016A)

The toilets where menstrual products are available are marked with a red dot on the door (also on some individual cubicles).

Campus map with locations marked in red where free mentruation products are available.

Why?

The use of menstrual products is as all-important to menstruating people as the use of toilet paper and soap. Yet access to these essential menstrual products can present students with financial challenges and limit their participation in teaching and university life.

For many people, menstruation can be very unexpected and it should be possible for all students to participate fully in teaching and university life – for example, without having to leave lectures to hurry to the nearest supermarket or home.

Menstrual products are also a monthly expense that not all students can afford: those affected by so-called period poverty then have to resort to unhygienic alternatives or stay away from university altogether.

Therefore, with this project we want to take an important first step on the path that other German universities (e.g. Charité, University of Potsdam) have already attempted.

If you have any questions about the project or if you can imagine being actively involved (for example, by helping to refill the products), please contact flinta@asta.tu-berlin.de . We look forward to it !

For the valuable cooperation and support, many thanks to:
EB104, IniChemie, Coordinating Office for Women’s Advancement and Gender Equality, Queer Department of AStA, Family Services Office