#Tampongate: Medical students asked to declare menstrual products before qualifying exams
The Medical Council of Canada is under fire after students revealed they were prohibited from bringing tampons or menstrual pads into the exam room to write a day-long exam.
In what is now being referred to online as #Tampongate, criticism began the day before students completed the second part of the Medical Council of Canada’s Qualifying Examinations (MCCQE) earlier this week.
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The test, which is required to receive a license to practice medicine, reportedly banned female students from brining any feminine hygiene product into the exam room. According to MCC policy, tampons and menstrual pads are classified as “accommodations” that need to be cleared with MCC staff prior to writing the exam.
Up until earlier this year, all feminine hygiene products were to be registered up to six weeks in advance of the test date. After much public criticism, the MCC revised its policy and now requires students to declare tampons and menstrual items to exam staff.
You can’t bring pads/tampons to the LMCC. 2-3 hr exam +/- 4-6 hr quarantine. They don’t provide products. Some women wear diapers, or stuff product in their bras. Night before the exam men can focus on the exam.. women are brainstorming how to avoid bleeding through their clothes
— Sarah Tulk (@sarahtulkmd) October 23, 2018
Dr. Michelle Cohen, advocacy chair of Canadian Women in Medicine, drafted an online petition calling for an end to examiners confiscating feminine hygiene products from exam takers.
“While we’re certainly appreciative of the need to maintain the exam’s integrity and prevent cheating, a ban on personal use items such as tampons and pads is overly intrusive. We are disturbed by the MCC’s policy requiring exam writers to hand over menstrual hygiene products to exam staff for inspection and confiscation at the beginning of the exam,” she wrote.
Cohen called the current policy “discriminatory against those who menstruate.”
“Considering that this ban disproportionately impacts female exam writers, we find it to be sexist and unfair…,” she continued. “These seem to be very clear violations of the human rights to bodily autonomy and freedom from discrimination based on sex.”
On Oct. 27, the MCC issued a statement with a “promise” to review their current policy and commitment to provide menstrual products in women’s bathrooms. The council also issued a public apology saying they “sincerely regret the concern and frustration.”
Cohen says the move to provide students with sanitary products still infringes on their personal freedoms.
“Exam writers are still entitled to personal use items of their own choosing, and should not have to rely solely on a separate organization to provide them,” she said.
Cohen also noted that the revised decision makes no mention of providing items to transgender men or feeling entitled to confiscate items.
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