The Government Digital Service has decided to provide free tampons and sanitary towels to women workers as part of an attempt to make it a more female friendly employer.
‘Not a luxury’: Free sanitary products will be provided at GDS – Photo credit: PA
Details of the new scheme were revealed to delegates at the Women into Leadership conference – hosted by CSW’s parent company Dods and the FDA union – in London.
During a session on digital engagement at the event, Zara Farrar, head of the GDS women’s group, said staff now have free tampons and sanitary towels due to a combination of “months of [presenting] business cases” and “just saying the word tampon enough times to senior men”.
She argued that sanitary products are not a “luxury item” and are a lot more necessary than the free milk they get in the kitchen.
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The move symbolises a wider change taking place throughout GDS, which was kicked off by the creation of the women’s group at the start of 2015.
In a previous interview, Farrar told PublicTechnology that before its creation, sexism had been “rife” in some parts of the service. However the difference since the group raised these issues with senior management, she said, had been “unbelievable”.
GDS has also rolled out unconscious bias training, which had already been given to senior staff, across the organisation, and is trying to ensure that job descriptions are written in a way that will appeal to women. Another development is having mixed-gender interview panels.
Farrar told delegates that the problems within GDS reflect a wider issue in society, where technology is still promoted as being something for boys rather than girls.
Despite growing numbers of women in work, the proportion employed in tech and digital is small – with women accounting for just one in seven IT professionals, according to Farrar. This is partially due to a lack of interest, with women “taught at a really early age that tech is for boys and it’s not for us”.
But women need to get involved and become part of the “conversation” when it comes to technology, to ensure they are not “excluded” from the advantages it offers, she told delegates.
