“Only 21 countries in the world have managed to reduce or eliminate this tax,” says Anahi Rodríguez, spokesperson for the organization Menstruación Digna México. The so-called “pink tax” on feminine intimate hygiene products aggravates inequalities and the gender gap, but also affects the health of millions of women, girls and adolescents. Two out of five girls do not attend school while they are menstruating, which directly affects their education.
This week, Scotland approved free feminine hygiene products, making it the first country in the world to offer these supplies free to women, girls, adolescents and menstruating people. A step in the fight against menstrual poverty, but one that is far from being implemented throughout the world.
The lack of access to sanitary towels, tampons or menstrual cups aggravates the health of millions of women who do not have the resources to access them and end up using unhygienic supplies. This can cause fungal or bacterial infections, since moisture retention due to not being able to change sanitary pads frequently generates moisture and accelerates the growth of harmful microorganisms, alters the Ph of the vaginal region and the microflora or generates infections in the tract urinary that often ends in serious complications.
This problem is related to gender inequality and the extremely high cost of these products, which in most countries have a tax called “pink rate”, raising their price. In Latin America, the cost of a package of ten sanitary pads is equivalent to two pounds of beans or a common lunch.
In the region, two out of five girls miss school during their menstruation, fueled by the stigma surrounding it. An issue that even the World Health Organization has asked to be addressed as a public health problem.
We spoke with Anahi Rodríguez, spokeswoman for the organization Menstruación Digna México, which fights from feminism to guarantee free access to these health products for Mexican women.
France 24: What do we mean by period poverty?
Anah Rodriguez: Menstrual poverty is made up of three factors. One, lack of access to menstrual management products; either because you don’t have the money to buy them or because you don’t have outlets to buy them.
The second component is the lack of quality menstrual education. In Mexico, for example, in elementary school they talk to you for twenty minutes about menstruation, they only talk to women and that’s it. The lack of an objective education, in a friendly way and that is for all people, not only for women, is also within the concept of menstrual poverty.
And the last thing is the lack of access to the proper facilities, that you have a private bathroom, drinking water every day, waste management, etc. These three components make up what we know as menstrual poverty.
France 24: In 2018, Colombia became the first country in Latin America to remove the added tax on sanitary napkins and tampons. Last year, Mexico approved the zero rate of VAT on these products. What is the regional panorama and how was the fight for a dignified menstruation in Mexico?
AR:In Mexico we are very inspired by Colombia, in fact that is how Menstruación Digna México began. When I founded it, it was because I got to know the experience of Colombia and from there I literally searched Mexico for towel tax and saw that we paid 16%. It is not one of the highest, the highest in Latin America is Uruguay with 22%, followed by Argentina and Chile with 19% of this tax. But still, they were an inspiration.
We contacted Colombian activists to find out what their experience had been like and not repeat the same mistakes. Fortunately, in two years we managed to get it removed. The truth was a difficult fight because at first no one talked about menstruation openly. I mean, not even on TV shows, in the newspapers or anything; then introduce the subject, explain why it was a sexist, discriminatory tax, explain that there was no similar good that men needed and paid a tax for and that is why they needed to eliminate it. It was a two-year process.
Fortunately, last year they passed it in Congress. The panorama in Latin America is progressing. In Argentina there are many organizations that are fighting not only for VAT to be eliminated but also for free VAT. In Chile they have also introduced a bill. In Guatemala we are also working with a collective. I think this fight is very recent. There are only 21 countries in the world that managed to eliminate or reduce this tax. We have a long way to go.
France 24: Poverty is one of the factors that pushes women to access unhygienic products, how does this affect their health and emotional well-being?
AR: When we talk about menstruation we say that it hinders access to rights. Think of homeless people, how do they manage menstruation? Which bathroom do they go to? Where do they buy the products or have the money to access them?
In Mexico City, an investigation was carried out with homeless people, with women, where they were asked how they did it and it was really that they used plastic, cardboard, newspaper, etc. They told us that sometimes they had to decide between eating that day or buying menstrual management products.
That is why we are promoting the free issue because for many people, menstruation is really an obstacle to access rights such as education, going to work, the work stress that this generates. All of this also affects our daily lives and that is why we are fighting to eliminate the stigma and taboo around menstruation.
France 24: According to the United Nations, one in 10 girls miss school during menstruation, many times precisely because of the lack of sanitary hygiene products. What are the main stigmas and problems surrounding the period?
AR: In Mexico, four out of 10 girls miss school because of menstruation. We did a survey with UNICEF Mexico two years ago to map this in school settings and we realized to begin with that, do the math quickly, here in Mexico there are 10 months of the school year; Let’s say that on average there are three days of period, which can be more or less. If we multiply it, it’s 30 days. It is almost a whole month that girls miss school because of menstruation. The knowledge that was given in those days will hardly be recovered. The gender gap from there begins to widen because clearly the children do not miss school and acquire that knowledge.
What happens is that they get to miss so much that they drop out of school completely; which puts them in a situation of greater vulnerability of unwanted pregnancies -which in the end are rapes because they are girls- of forced marriages, even human trafficking. Part of what we map is that, for example, there are no adequate facilities in schools, there are no toilets, there is no water, teachers do not let them go to the bathroom more than once, classmates make fun of them if they get dirty. This is part of the stigmas that exist.
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