Menstrual Hygiene is a Necessity Not a Luxury

I remember the day I came on my period. I was at a piano concert and felt a sharp jab in my tummy area and thought I just needed to use the restroom. I tried to wait the pain out but I was in such great discomfort that I eventually stood up from where I sat and then went to the bathroom. The pain was so novel that I wasn't sure how to react. I paced around the toilet for a bit and started getting scared that something was wrong with me and eventually seeing blood served to confirm my fears that something was wrong. I wasn't sure how to get help and when I got home I kept it to myself till my younger sister prodded and then went on to parrot the state of things to my mother in her room.

My mom called me in and asked me what was wrong which was when I then hesitantly told her that I saw blood in between my legs. You're probably already cringing at the thought of this, especially if you're a boy. No hard feelings though, I was also conditioned to cringe for the first few years of the whole menstruation process.

Anyway, to my relief, my mom was very calm about things and showed me how to use a pad, track my period cycle and maintain my hygiene during that time of the month. Even though I feel like I should have been briefed about the whole period thing earlier on, you could say that I'm lucky to have had everything broken down to me so calmly by my mother and to a large extent, I agree. 

In many situations, the reverse is the case. Countless women and girls around the world have their menstruation crowded in shame, stigma, disgust, misinformation, etc. Others still, don't have the facilities to afford or acquire basic menstrual hygiene education and products like sanitary pads, menstrual cups, tampons, medications, etc. because of various reasons. This illustration above is referred to as Period Poverty.

What Exactly is Period Poverty Anyway?

According to the American Medical Women's Association, "Period poverty refers to the inadequate access to menstrual hygiene tools and education, including but not limited to sanitary products, washing facilities, and waste management." 

In my own opinion, period poverty is not just the inability to receive menstrual hygiene tools and education, but also the inability to give it because of misinformation, ignorance, stigma, and taxation surrounding menstruation. 

Why are Essential Feminine Hygiene Products Like Sanitary Pads Taxed Anyway?

Good question. Many people have various reasons why sanitary hygiene products are taxed and some tag it as a category of Pink Tax (Women paying more than men for similar products like clothes, watches, bicycles, shaving sticks, etc). One of them being that various materials used in making sanitary products increase the cost of the final product. 

While some women avoid the Pink Tax by simply purchasing men's version of similar products instead, when it comes to menstrual hygiene tools , paying the Pink Tax is inevitable because news flash—there aren't men's versions of menstrual sanitary products.

Another reason that government taxes sanitary products as luxury goods could be traced to the fact that they are inelastic goods (goods that will always be in demand no matter how high or low the price is). Taxing such goods gives the government more (or at least stable) revenue because no matter what, people have to buy that thing. In some very terrible situations, some women find themselves having to choose between buying food or accessing sanitary products. 

Also, the majority of the people in positions to make laws on women's health and reproductive rights are actually men who probably don't prioritize menstruation and other basic health needs of women or worse still, use their positions to maintain control on women's bodies and life decisions regarding their health. Hence, the majority of people affected by these laws are women but the empowered majority are men.

A good example of how little women are politically involved in their own health issues, would be the fact that the first and only time, so far, Nigeria has had a female federal Minister of Health was from 2007– 2008.

Let's Look at the Statistics of Period Poverty in Nigeria and Costs Incurred for Simply Menstruating

One regular pack of Always in Nigeria is about N2000. Let's say on average menstruation starts at the age of 12 and ends at the age of  52. That's about 40 years of bleeding. Let's assume that everyone experiences 12 periods in one year. That would be a total of 480 periods in 40 years. So for 40 years, each individual Nigerian woman would have spent the equivalent of 480xN2000= N960,000. That's almost a million naira (with no guarantee that prices would remain the same) spent on sanitary products over one's life time! 

Indeed, the harsh reality is that period poverty affects up to 25% of women and girls in Nigeria alone. 

So Why Should We Care About the Fact that Menstrual Hygiene Tools are Treated as a Luxury and Not a Necessity?

For one, period poverty forces a handful of women and girls around the world to resort to improvising with newspapers, old rags, banana leaves, etc. This is not only embarrassing for some, but also causes a lot of physical and emotional distress (like anxiety and depression) and exposes them to infection. I'm sure some of us can relate to the discomfort of having to improvise with tissue paper in very desperate times. Now, imagine having to do that every single time you're on your period. Exactly.

Some girls even have to pause school or sporting activities because they have no access to sanitary pads, medications, etc. while some women have to pause going to work every time they're on their period. 

In other cases some women and girls have to engage in transactional sex with older men to gain access to money to get menstrual hygiene products. This further exposes them to STDs, unwanted pregnancy, and intimate partner violence from a partner whom they totally depend on.

How about Other Effects of Period Poverty?

In some parts of the country or world where the onset of menstruation is misconstrued as being ripe for marriage, young girls are often exposed to child marriage because of beliefs that they are now women. From there it becomes one rippling effect after the other. The child will probably have to drop out of school due to early pregnancy or even just because of the fact that she is married. Furthermore, serious health complications surround giving birth when the body is not fully developed yet. 

In addition, menstruation is tagged as impure in some parts of the world and women and girls are made to isolate themselves from the rest of the family and community. They must use separate cutlery, wear clothes designated only for menstruation, they are prevented from cooking, social gatherings, etc. Isolating them not only exposes them to harsh weather conditions, animal attacks and sexual assault but drastically affects the mental health of many women and girls.

What Can We Do to End Period Poverty?

The very first crucial thing is to normalise conversations about periods. After my own experience with feeling scared because I did not understand what it was, I made sure that my own sisters wouldn't have to feel that way too. I took it upon myself to educate them and even my younger brother too and we're all the better for it. 

Everyone should be able to ask their father to drive them down to the grocery store to get sanitary pads without cringing, or tell their male friends that they need their space without being teased for PMSing. 

A boy should be able to freely tell me that he thinks I'm stained without both of us wanting to enter the ground and be swallowed up. I know it can be difficult for both parties because of the shame of womanhood that too many of us are socialized into constantly feeling.

On another note, I strongly believe that period hygiene products (and education) should not even be subsidized but completely free for all especially in institutions like churches, public hospitals, mosques, workplaces and schools. This might seem like a white elephant project especially for countries termed the 'Global South,' or 'developing countries,' but if we've seen it happen on this Earth (a good role model being Scotland), then it's absolutely possible to achieve.

One way to make this goal possible (at least on a small scale), would be by contributing to Une Femme Libre's "L'Argent des Filles" or "The Girls' Money" project by purchasing a planner or multiple planners from the Une Femme Libre Online Store today. Part of the proceeds will be dedicated to providing free sanitary products for women and girls in Dudu's local area. 

Instead of pretending that women care about trivial matters like the fact that menstruation starts with 'men' and not 'women', let's focus on what actually matters and provide the help that women actually need. Care for yourself when you're on your period and help others care for themselves too.

XO, 

Dudu.

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For more information check out:

This Period Tax per [US] State is Going to Horrify You

The Covid Pandemic has Exacerbated an Under the Radar Health Disparity: Period Poverty.

Menstruation and the Menstrual Cycle (Infographic)