I cannot believe it!!

Coco51

Bet he was appointed by a man!

No, a woman who appears to have been instrumental in appointing him in the last 3 roles.

The same woman?

Yes, the same woman.

Hmmm

Whether your for it or against it, thinks it’s ok or the weirdest decision ever made, it will stand and even if more than 50% of Scotland put a vote in against it… it won’t change, so he’s got a job for life ( SNP life that is) Can’t believe I’m saying this next part but…. Actually agree with Ian Blackford for once on this one!! Think that worries me more than the male Period Dignity Officer

Okdokey08

Whether your for it or against it, thinks it’s ok or the weirdest decision ever made, it will stand and even if more than 50% of Scotland put a vote in against it… it won’t change, so he’s got a job for life ( SNP life that is) Can’t believe I’m saying this next part but…. Actually agree with Ian Blackford for once on this one!! Think that worries me more than the male Period Dignity Officer

What does it have to do with the SNP?

A lot of knee jerk reactions to this!

It's nothing to do with SNP. I read it's only a two year job.

Not everyone who gives the best/strongest interview is the best person for the job. WE have recently employed someone who was head and shoulders above all the other candidates but has proceeded to upset customers, alienate operational staff and is really lazy to boot. Thankfully, we have a probationary period where we can assess the work done and decide if that person is suitable for the role or not. The best candidate is not always the best person for the job.

Nanna58

His job description was logistics and PR - come on ladies he doesn’t need to menstruate to do that. Would there be the same outcry if the best candidate to do the same job for Prostate cancer was a woman?

There would be an outcry I'm sure - by some men. There's quite a few, judging by some of the comments on other SM sites on various issues - especially those surrounding divorce - who feel that women have "got it all their own way" and are convinced that the Law and society in general penalises them in favour of the 'wimmin'.

I'm happy for the best-person-for-the-job to be the deciding factor. I don't think you have to be a woman to appreciate 'period-poverty'... in the same way that I can sympathise with someone who is in food-poverty (and feel strongly enough to want to do something about it), even tho' I'm able to afford to eat properly.

kjmpde

I generally feel that men are usually more sympathetic, i felt violated by 2 female nurses during my first smear and refused to have another. 20 years later a male Asian Dr persuaded to me have another as he understood we are not the size of the Mersey Tunnel !

I had a similar experience. The most sympathetic doctor happened to be a young, white male, who seemed genuinely upset at my earlier treatment by a 'let's-have-no-nonsense' type female GP. He also appeared to have a firm grasp of the fact that women's anatomy was, shall we say, very 'variable', and certainly knew how such discomfort as I was suffering could affect my quality of life.

stewaris

Not everyone who gives the best/strongest interview is the best person for the job. WE have recently employed someone who was head and shoulders above all the other candidates but has proceeded to upset customers, alienate operational staff and is really lazy to boot. Thankfully, we have a probationary period where we can assess the work done and decide if that person is suitable for the role or not. The best candidate is not always the best person for the job.

This is all true, and many other people have made the same point. But how do you deal with it?

If you know the person who has given the best interview is not the best candidate then they have not given the best interview.

The interview process is flawed, that's well known. But to say that because this person was interviewed means he's the wrong person is to commit the fallacy of the inverse.

I wonder how many applicants there were who managed to spot that the job was available?
I gather that a female nurse has a similar job in Glasgow.

stewaris

Not everyone who gives the best/strongest interview is the best person for the job. WE have recently employed someone who was head and shoulders above all the other candidates but has proceeded to upset customers, alienate operational staff and is really lazy to boot. Thankfully, we have a probationary period where we can assess the work done and decide if that person is suitable for the role or not. The best candidate is not always the best person for the job.

Are you not very good at recruitment then?

Perhaps you should have spotted earlier that your candidate wasn't actually the best guy?

Oh sorry, somebody here objects to being called a guy ?

I sometimes wonder why you are so confrontational in your posts volver. I made no mention of whether I thought the guy who got the Period Dignity Officer was the correct person for the job or not. However, it is well known that interviews are flawed. Some people interview out of their skin some don't. I merely made that observation.

Peaseblossom

Baggytrazzas seriously?! Maybe they should appoint a female as testicle officer.

Maybe they should, if the job becomes vacant and a female comes out as the best person for the job after completing the selection process.

GrammyGrammy

Baggytrazzas

HI, I'm not so sure that this is wrong. We have always wanted equality, not a one way street.

Maybe no eligible women wanted it, and presumably there was some sort of selection process and the role went to the best person for the job.

I don't know how much it is costing overall nor whether it is a waste of money or not.

Equality does not mean having men talking about our female functions. Not does equality mean we get called 'guys' and femaleness cancelled. Equality has never meant the same. We are not men and men are not us. Womankind is being cancelled and we need to fight this every single day. men identifying as women does not make them a woman, merely deluded. It is wrong in every way to have a man appointed in this role. It is sick.

So you don't agree with the decision.

" Femaleness cancelled, womankind is being cancelled, men identifying as women are deluded" ?

Those are fairly sweeping statements, that could be regarded as deeply insulting to some people reading them. And I'm not sure they are directly relevant to this thread.

Rosie51

Our grandparents and great grandparents managed without an awful lot that most of us would be loathe to forego. I no longer menstruate, but if I still did, I'd not find the prospect of using rags and safety pins while being at school or work a happy prospect.
Washable sanitary products are available but are expensive for the initial purchase. Moon cups may not be suitable for everyone, but especially young girls just starting their periods. Again there's an initial outlay to consider.

Just so. I was merely pondering as is my wont.

Germanshepherdsmum

Baggs

I wonder how my paternal grandma, living in poverty, managed. Rags and safety pins, probably, and rags that were washed out and re-used.

Just a thought. Wish I'd asked her.

Yes, she would have used rags and washed them, Baggs. People with a bit more money paid someone else to wash them. It was quite normal then unless you were very well off. Some people without rags used moss. Difficult to imagine now.

Indeed. It's very hard to imagine how women coped in the past in many circumstances. I've read about the attitude that women and girls are regarded as "unclean" during their periods in more primitive circumstances, which rather suggests how very difficult it was to cope at all.

Well, we shall all be all right now because we have a man to tell us how to cope.
How did we manage before?

eazybee

Well, we shall all be all right now because we have a man to tell us how to cope.
How did we manage before?

...and that's the point: some people are not managing.

They can manage now as sanitary products are available.

Can I just point out that sanitary towels won't appear in public places as if by magic? Somebody has to co-ordinate it and make it happen. And that doesn't mean teaching people to wash their bloody rags and be grateful for it.

How can the general public be so unaware of how things actually work?

stewaris

I sometimes wonder why you are so confrontational in your posts volver. I made no mention of whether I thought the guy who got the Period Dignity Officer was the correct person for the job or not. However, it is well known that interviews are flawed. Some people interview out of their skin some don't. I merely made that observation.

Do you? It's one of the mysteries of the ages.

I guess I am often totally flummoxed at how unfeeling people are. I'm going to use the word ignorant, not to mean stupid, but in its true sense. Meaning, how little people know about things.

I don't know if the person who got the job is the "correct person" for the job because I don't have the hubris of thinking that I know all about the subject and could identify the best candidate just because I don't have a penis.

Emails? Letters? All sorts of ways to inform organisations that these things should be available. In fact most places already seem to have picked up on it.
Human nature being what it is I suspect items left out will be nicked and women will be back to having to ask for them from the nearest woman if they haven't already equipped themselves. Round and round we go.

I'm sorry Aveline. You have no idea.

Who do you think writes the emails? Do you think they emerge into being from nothing? And do you think that just getting a couple of emails will get organisations on board, that they will be immediately convinced of the worth of this law and will knock each other over in an attempt to get it working?

I see you assume that things will just be left out and that of course, they will get "nicked". Perhaps that is more indicative of your thoughts about your fellow human beings that about how the policy will work. Have a bit of vision. Try to see a better society. Oh, I forgot, that's not something many people here are up for, is it?