Menstrual precariousness and toilet paper use among French women 2019

Menstrual precariousness refers to the situation in which individuals who menstruate do not have sufficient economic resources to purchase menstrual protection and hygiene products during menstruation. These people are sometimes forced to use toilet paper as a substitute for sanitary pads. In 2019, the source sought to identify women and their daughters who were in this situation. Yet, it appears that seven percent of women from the general public surveyed encountered this obstacle frequently or occasionally. Among the women surveyed who benefited from associative help, nearly one in three faced this situation with the same frequency.

Do you or your daughter ever use toilet paper or anything else instead of menstrual protection because of lack of money?

Characteristic	General public	Association beneficiaries
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Release date

March 2019

More information

Region

France

Survey time period

January 9-11, 2019; January 17 to February 8, 2019**

Number of respondents

2204*

Age group

18 years and older

Special properties

Women who menstruate and women with a menstruating daughter at home, i.e., 32% of the general public sample and 48% of the association beneficiary sample

Method of interview

Computer-assisted web interviews (CAWI)

Supplementary notes

The question was phrased by the source as follows: "Vous arrive-t-il pour vous-même ou votre fille d’utiliser du papier toilette ou autre chose à la place de protections hygiéniques par manque d’argent ?"

The source adds the following information:
"General public: sample of 1,503 people"
"Association beneficiaries: sample of 701 people who are beneficiaries of charitable associations in the Dons Solidaires network (social grocery stores, shelters and day care centers, associations helping people in great difficulty)"

** "General public: interviews were conducted by self-administered online questionnaire from January 9 to 11, 2019.
Association beneficiaries: interviews took place by paper and online self-administered questionnaire from January 17 to February 8, 2019."

It should be noted that not all women menstruate, for various reasons (medication, illnesses, malformations, etc.) and that people who do not identify as women (non-binary people, transgender men, etc.) may have periods.

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