#perioddignity

The Scottish parliament approved plans to make sanitary products freely available to all women, the first nation in the world to do so. The goal of the policy is to end "period poverty" and enable public places such as community centers, youth clubs and pharmacies to widely offer sanitary products, a provision that may cost up to $31.2 million. Monica Lennon, the bill's leading proponent, said that passage of the bill is a major step for equality, calling it a "milestone moment for normalizing menstruation in Scotland and sending out that real signal to people in this country about how seriously parliament takes gender equality." Source: Reuters https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-scotland-sanitary/scottish-parliament-approves-free-sanitary-products-for-all-women-idUSKBN20J1NZ

Norwegian oil company Equinor has walked away from its plan to drill in the Great Australian Bight, despite getting the green light from authorities earlier this year. The Bight contains more endemic marine diversity than the Great Barrier Reef and is home to whales, sea lions, sharks and dolphin. While Equinor said the venture wasn't commercially viable, the decision will be seen as a win for community groups across the country which had fiercely opposed oil drilling in one of the world's most pristine and tempestuous marine environments. Since the plan was made public, the Australian surf community has done everything in their power to protest the planned drilling, including putting pressure on the Australian government and organizing massive paddle-outs.
In November of last year, thousands of ocean-goers gathered all along Australia’s coastline to make their voices heard, the images from which went viral around the world on social media. Equinor is now the latest oil and gas company to have abandoned proposals for drilling in the area since 2016, following competitors BP, Chevron and Karoon Energy. Source: BBC https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-51623764