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지나쌤

Is providing menstrual pads to female students unfair?

By Cho Min-jeong

Published : Sept. 5, 2023 - 17:21

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Controversy has erupted over an anonymous local university's welfare program that provides menstrual pads to female students with student association fees.

On Monday, a user of the online forum wrote a post complaining, "At the university my friend attends, they provide menstrual pads to all female students once a month using student association fees."

The user stated, "It's not limited to those in financial need; it's provided to all female students unconditionally once a month," and added, "By the way, the student association fee is 23,000 won ($17.35), and it's not only paid by female students, but the benefit is received only by female students."

A screenshot of the student association group chat (The online community) A screenshot of the student association group chat (The online community)

According to a screenshot of a group chat attached to the post, "Student Association Women's Welfare" is a program that provides each female student with two menstrual pads and two jelly snacks per month from this past Sept. 4 through the end of the second semester.

Netizens expressed various opinions. Those who found this welfare program unfair have said, "There should also be support for men. Create welfare that both genders can benefit from," and, "It's not a welfare program targeting vulnerable groups. What a waste of the association fee!"

On the other hand, others said, "There are male students in the student association. They probably discussed it and came to this conclusion," and, "I can understand this to some extent. It's similar to another university student association that used the fees to provide snacks to male students in the reserve military forces."