In the 1970s, when the women’s liberation movement started to take root in Japan, a group of female students at Tohoku University began demanding the university provide free menstrual products in restrooms, arguing that they were necessities for women.
Now, as "period poverty" — referring to those who are unable to afford menstrual products — has become a social issue, former members of the group have compiled materials from their activities and self-published a reference book titled “Gojunen-me no Seiri Yohin” (“50th Year of Menstrual Products”).
By shedding light on the collection of historical records, they aim to reexamine the significance of their movement for gender equality in today’s context.
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