(BIVN) – Courthouses on the Island of Hawaiʻi are helping to address “period poverty”, by providing access to safe and hygienic menstrual products, free of charge. 

From a Hawaiʻi Judiciary news release:

The Judiciary believes in providing equitable access to public facilities by reducing barriers faced by individuals. One such barrier is period poverty, or lack of access to safe and hygienic menstrual products.

“We have been installing menstrual product dispensers in the first-floor women’s restrooms of courthouses across the state,” said Angela Min, Innovations Officer. “The Third Circuit courthouses in Kona and Hilo on Hawaiʻi island are now equipped with the dispensers, at no cost to the public.”

“We are pleased to make these products available to court users who need them,” said Third Circuit Chief Court Administrator Dawn West. “While adequate food and shelter readily come to mind as daily necessities, access to these personal hygiene products can be difference makers in the lives of girls and women.”

Aliʻiōlani Hale on Oʻahu, Puʻuhonua Kaulike on Kauaʻi, and Hoapili Hale and Lahaina District Courthouse on Maui also have the dispensers.

“We want to say a special mahalo to the non-profit Maʻi Movement, and its co-founder Nikki-Ann Yee who greatly assisted the Judiciary in launching this movement in our courthouses,” Min added.

“Enabling access to justice can take many forms,” said Chief Justice Mark E. Recktenwald. “Providing these products at no cost in our courthouses is just one way the Judiciary can make someone’s court experience just a little easier and it is our kuleana to work towards equal access to justice.”