Two eighth graders from Bainbridge Island’s Commodore Options School, Ruby Whitmire and Seraphina Berg, have begun a campaign to reinstall menstrual product dispensers in the bathrooms of every vessel and terminal of the Washington State Ferries.

It’s a matter of equality and dignity, the girls explained — and a big project, added Kevin Bartoy, senior director of quality, health, safety and environment at WSF — but a worthwhile one. If the agency decides to take up the project, menstrual products could appear on WSF vessels as soon as this fall.

“One of our commitments as an organization and our sustainability action plan is to be of service to our communities here. We feel like we’re part of these communities — we feel like it’s a home to us. So, having people reach out and work with us, and feeling comfortable to be able to do that, is exactly what I want to see as we work with the communities and have that communication going both ways,” said Bartoy.

While WSF is “very supportive of the effort,” moving forward is a matter of logistics and funding. If WSF decides to take up the projects, it would need to fabricate and install at least 65 menstruation product dispensers in its vessels and terminals, as well as at least one disposal unit per restroom stall, Bartoy estimated, which could become expensive.

Menstruation products like tampons, pads and panty liners are essential for personal hygiene and are a “basic bathroom necessity,” Berg and Whitmire explained in their online petition. It’s become more common over the last 20 years for places to provide tampons or pads, either for free or in wall-mounted coin-operated machines, and some states (including Washington) have passed mandates that require schools to provide free period products in school restrooms.

“Since we started, I just look in random places [for period products],” said Whitmire.

“(Recently), we were on the ferry to Vashon, and we both were checking the restrooms like, ‘Are there period products?” added Berg.

“They’re nowhere in Washington, in the places we’ve seen,” Whitmire chimed in. “In public restrooms, you’ll find them, and they’ll be either paid or free ones. And you’ll be like, ‘Oh, why are they here, and not on the ferries?’”

But it’s far from a ubiquitous practice, and current regulation is patchwork. A state law enacted in 2024 established minimum workplace sanitary requirements to accommodate people on their periods or breastfeeding, but the law focused exclusively on construction workers at job sites.

Lack of regulatory standards regarding the provision of period products in public restrooms means that restrooms can be unreliable places for people to find relief during an unexpected period. In 2013, restroom equality foundation Free the Tampon found that about 48% of women obtained their period supplies from a dispenser and only 8% reported that the dispensers worked consistently.

WSF vessels used to have tampon dispensers in the women’s restrooms, but they broke frequently and passengers would often dispose of used products by flushing them down the vessel’s sensitive plumbing system — so the dispensers were removed years ago, Bartoy explained.

But removing the products themselves didn’t make sense to the girls: isn’t it only fair that the ferry provide equally adequate amenities in its restrooms to those who menstruate and those who don’t?

Whitmire was inspired to advocate for menstrual hygiene after dealing with the lack of products on the ferries firsthand. She recalled an ordeal where upon realizing she had started her period unexpectedly, she went to the restroom to look for an emergency product — but they were “nowhere to be seen,” she said.

She and her mom then checked if the galley sold products, to no avail, which was when the scope of the issue began to become clear.

“The lady that works there, she told us that so many women throughout the day go up to her and ask for [period products] … and she was like, ‘I feel bad, because we don’t have any here,’” Whitmire said.

The employee referred Whitmire and her mom to the second mate’s office, and after an extended search, the employees found a product for Whitmire.

Whitmire is confident discussing menstruation, but she knows that not everyone is, and what she went through on the ferry could deter or embarrass many people, she explained.

She and Berg saw an opportunity to make a change that would support their fellow students during an uncomfortable experience through the school’s eighth-grade finals project.

The pair started by talking to school leadership about stocking period products for free in the Odyssey school restrooms; they reached out to Woodward Middle School as well, and found that period products were only available in the nurse’s office.

“It’s important to have period products in the bathrooms, especially for the younger kids, for them to keep some of their privacy,” said Whitmire. “Because it’s not good that everybody is embarrassed about it.”