Menstrual Tax, An Unconscious & Insensitive Way Of Monetizing Nature.

“Period” or “tampons” tax refers to the value-added tax charged on tampons and other feminine hygiene products. A 20% luxury tax has been placed on sanitary products in Ghana. This not only unfair but directly contradicts with United Nations Goals 1, 3, 4, and 5, which respectively state no poverty, good health and well-being, quality education, and gender equality.

How do we seek to achieve these goals when the tax on sanitary products is a clear hindrance rather than an intervention? Data indicates that, nine out of 10 girls regularly miss school during their periods. Another study shows that, 12.8% of women and girls live in poverty and struggle to access resources to manage themselves during their periods.

The luxury tax on menstrual products places an additional burden on our young girls making the cost of living too high for them. Why should ladies be taxed for their own blood when menstruation is not a choice but a natural phenomenon that they experience?

Sanitary pads are very costly to purchase and this has caused a lot of girls to resort to the use of unhygienic materials such as reusable clothes, rags, toilet paper, etc., which all put their health in jeopardy. The frustration and difficulty that come with affording menstrual products for our young girls living on the streets have made them vulnerable to diseases.

Period poverty is a public health crisis that has, rather surprisingly, been shut off from public discussion due to the stigma that’s associated with menstruation. Instead of being recognized as a normal, healthy phenomenon, it’s been clothed with uncleanliness, disgust, shame, etc., and this has averted public dialogue on this pressing public health crisis.

People feel ashamed publicly talking about menstruation due to the stigma attached to it, resulting in sad situations whereby a male can’t visit a shop to purchase sanitary pads without having eyebrows raised at them.

The Government of Ghana needs to reduce or scrap off this luxury tax because:

*The tax has made the commodity very expensive, generating one of the biggest barriers to education for our young girls. Menstrual period improperly managed is  among the leading factors for which many young girls drop out of school.

*Menstrual products are not a luxury item but rather a basic necessity, similar to food and medicine.

*Taxing menstrual products disproportionately affects low-income individuals and families that may struggle to afford the additional cost of living other than food.

*Many African countries, for example, Kenya, South Africa, Rwanda, Namibia, etc., have already repealed the tax on menstrual products, recognizing the unfairness and injustice of taxing them.

*Removing the tax on these products can help alleviate financial burdens and improve overall well-being of women and girls living in poor communities especially.

*Ignoring the menstrual hygiene needs of a woman, coupled with the high cost of menstrual products, is a direct violation of her rights to human dignity, equality, health, non-discrimination, etc.

*Menstrual stigma inflicts indignity on a lot of young girls and women; scrapping the tax and making it affordable for everyone will help them live and move freely.

It is for these reasons and many more that we demand that this 20% tax be reduced or totally scrapped.

Access to menstrual products should be a right, so let’s stop taxing and monetizing nature in such an unconscious manner.

Let’s all come together to achieve menstrual equity. 

#EndPeriodTax

#EndPeriodPoverty

#DontTaxMyBlood

DERRICK AWUMEY