On an average day, millions of people menstruate, with more than 300 million women and other menstruators, which includes transgender men or people who identify as nonbinary. According to a report by the World Bank, an estimated 500 million lack access to menstrual products and adequate facilities for menstrual health largely due to a lack of awareness, education, and/or cultural influences.
Women and adolescent girls are shamed, made fun of and even seen as “impure,” “dirty” or “unclean” when they are menstruating, a biological process which is essential to human reproduction. An average person uses over 11,000 sanitary products, which is over the course of 3,500 menstrual days, which last between three to seven days and add up to nearly 10 years of a person’s lifetime.
In a world where an estimated 500 million people struggle to procure menstrual products and have access to adequate facilities for menstrual health, several countries continue to impose what is known as the “tampon tax.” Here is what you need to know about the two issues affecting menstruators across the world:
What is World Menstrual Hygiene Day?
Considering the importance of menstrual health and hygiene, the world began observing Menstrual Hygiene Day, on the 28th day of the 5th month of the year, annually since 2014.
The reason behind this is that menstrual cycles last for an average of 28 days and people menstruate an average of five days each month. This year’s theme is “Making menstruation a normal fact of life by 2030.”
UN Population Fund (UNFPA) Executive Director Natalia Kanem said, “A girl’s first period should be a happy fact of life, a sign of coming of age with dignity. She should have access to everything necessary to understand and care for her body and attend school without stigma or shame.”
What is Menstrual Hygiene Management?
The World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF define Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM) as “Women and adolescent girls using a clean menstrual management material to absorb or collect menstrual blood, that can be changed in privacy as often as necessary, using soap and water for washing the body as required and having access to safe and convenient facilities to dispose of used menstrual management materials.”
In addition to this, menstruates also have the knowledge of basic facts linked to the menstrual cycle and how to manage it with dignity and without embarrassment or stigma, which is also seen as an important part of MHM.
Poor menstrual health and hygiene are seen as a hindrance to fundamental rights like working on going to school for women, girls and people who menstruate. This is considering the patterns of exclusion and shame arising from insufficient resources to manage menstruation, according to UNFPA. Furthermore, gender inequality, extreme poverty, humanitarian crises and harmful traditions can amplify deprivation and stigma, related to menstruation.
What is ‘period poverty’?
Period poverty refers to the struggle of many menstruates who cannot afford menstrual products as well as the increased economic vulnerability they face due to the financial burden posed by menstrual supplies. However, these costs are not limited to pads or tampons but also pain medication and underwear.
Period poverty also includes the lack of or absence of knowledge pertaining to menstrual hygiene education and sanitary facilities (washrooms/bathrooms). However, when we address period poverty, it is not just an economic issue but also a social and political one and this is where the concept of “tampon tax” comes in.
‘Tampon tax’: What is it and who is imposing it?
In a world where hundreds of millions of people are affected by “period poverty,” global calls for the end of the so-called tampon tax have increased. Tampon tax refers to the consumption levies such as value-added tax (VAT) which most countries charge on items such as sanitary pads, tampons, panty liners and menstrual cups.
While menstrual products in some countries are considered non-essential items for VAT purposes, items like toilet paper, condoms and over-the-counter medicines are tax-free or at least carry a lower levy. Notably, Kenya became the first country to scrap VAT on sanitary pads and tampons in 2004 and over a dozen other countries have followed suit, as per the data by Reuters.
Meanwhile, some 10 countries have moved to place sanitary products as tax-exempt goods or exempted the tax on imported raw materials used to make them. Last year, the European Union revised a directive which allowed its 27 member nations to reduce VAT on sanitary products by five per cent, which means they can lower taxes on some goods.
One of the reasons why tampon tax continues to be levied in many countries is because VAT is an important source of revenue for governments and is a large part of some countries’ GDP. Furthermore, the VAT rates vary depending on the country, considering governments often have different definitions of what is considered an essential good that is exempted from the levy.
Notably, Scotland, last year became the first nation to make sanitary pads and tampons free at designated public places, like youth centres and pharmacies.
Where does India stand in all of this?
The experience of menstruators across India differs but the stigma around the biological process remains prevalent in many parts of the country. Earlier this month, a 12-year-old girl was allegedly tortured and killed by her 30-year-old brother in the Thane district after he mistook the bloodstains on her clothes for her involvement in a sexual relationship.
As per media reports, the girl was unable to explain the reason behind the bloodstains on her clothes due to her lack of knowledge about menstruation. She was reportedly subjected to torture as the accused allegedly inflicted severe burns on various parts of the victim’s body and after days of being kicked and punched, she was taken to the hospital, where she succumbed to her injuries.
Additionally, nearly 33 crore menstruating women are affected by different levels of “period poverty,” either in terms of access to menstrual products, information, or infrastructure for hygiene. A report by NGO Dasra and United States Agency for International Development (USAID) shows that 23 million girls are forced to drop out of school every year due to a lack of proper MHM facilities.
A 2018 study conducted by UNICEF shows 70 per cent of Indian mothers believed menstruation is “dirty.” This translates to practices like girls not being allowed to touch members of the family, or enter the kitchen, and sometimes even being made to eat separately, as per reports. In some parts of the country, women and girls are also made to sleep outside the house, often in a hut or livestock shed.
However, it is not all doom and gloom. In 2018, India scrapped its tax on menstrual products following months of campaigning by activists over the government’s 12 per cent duty on menstrual hygiene products which sparked outrage across the country. It came to be known as ‘Lahu ka Lagaan’ which translates to “blood tax”.
The move was welcomed considering periods are one of the leading reasons why girls drop out of schools in India while others are forced to stay at home due to the lack of access to menstrual products. According to the recent National Family Health Survey, over 30 per cent of women between the age of 15 and 24 do not use hygiene methods like “locally prepared napkins, sanitary napkins, tampons, and menstrual cups” during their period.
(With inputs from agencies)
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