Aug 11, 2023 02:38 AM
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-66423981
EXCERPTS: Women on the minimum wage in Ghana have to spend one in every seven dollars they earn on sanitary pads, research by the BBC has found.
The BBC surveyed nine countries around Africa to see how affordable period products are. We compared the minimum wage to the local cost of the cheapest sanitary pads and found they were beyond the reach of many women.
While Ghana was the country with the least affordable menstrual products of those we surveyed, women across Africa are struggling with "period poverty" - something activists are trying to change.
Joyce, a 22-year-old Ghanaian, cannot afford to buy what she needs when she's on her period. "The only person available to help wants sex before he gives me the money. I have to do it because I need pads for the month," she tells the BBC.
In six of the countries studied by the BBC, women on the minimum wage have to spend between 3-13% of their salary to buy two packets of sanitary towels containing eight pads - what many women will need each month.
[...] Many menstrual health activists say removing "tampon taxes" is one way to help women inch closer to accessing and affording sanitary products.
Tampon tax refers to the different types of taxes imposed on feminine hygiene products, including period products such as pads, menstrual cups and may include sales tax, VAT and others.
Campaigners further say governments still look at feminine products as luxury items, rather than consumer goods or basic necessities, meaning the tax imposed on them is akin to a "luxury tax", imposed on items considered non-essential, which only wealthy people will buy. These taxes are usually higher than on basic goods.
[...] Across Africa, and the world, lack of access to menstrual hygiene products due to high cost or because they're not available in rural or remote areas has had a huge impact on millions of women.
While there is no single piece of research into how many girls miss school globally, studies in different regions and countries reveal that thousands of girls miss many days of education every year because they're on their period.
[...] A study in Kenya found that 95% of menstruating girls missed between one and three days a month while another 70% reported a negative impact on their grades, and more than 50% said they were falling behind in school because of menstruation.
[...] Ibrahim Faleye was around 10 years old when he started buying menstrual pads for his sister. Growing up around girls in the Nigerian metropolis of Lagos, he thought it was a normal thing for every young man to do.
"We were an average family and we could afford sanitary pads so I believed it was the same for other families. When I found out that many people cannot afford the products, I was shocked," he says.
[...] UNFPA defines period poverty as "the struggle many low-income women and girls face while trying to afford menstrual products".
The UN says overall menstrual hygiene means women and girls have access to clean water and soap, accessible and clean toilets and latrines and the power to access these facilities in privacy without stigma and shaming, coupled with menstrual education for both boys and girls.
In response to the BBC research, Nokuzola says: "It shouldn't be this way. The fact that a woman has to choose between a loaf of bread, sustaining her family and menstrual products is really sad and concerning... (MORE - details)
EXCERPTS: Women on the minimum wage in Ghana have to spend one in every seven dollars they earn on sanitary pads, research by the BBC has found.
The BBC surveyed nine countries around Africa to see how affordable period products are. We compared the minimum wage to the local cost of the cheapest sanitary pads and found they were beyond the reach of many women.
While Ghana was the country with the least affordable menstrual products of those we surveyed, women across Africa are struggling with "period poverty" - something activists are trying to change.
Joyce, a 22-year-old Ghanaian, cannot afford to buy what she needs when she's on her period. "The only person available to help wants sex before he gives me the money. I have to do it because I need pads for the month," she tells the BBC.
In six of the countries studied by the BBC, women on the minimum wage have to spend between 3-13% of their salary to buy two packets of sanitary towels containing eight pads - what many women will need each month.
[...] Many menstrual health activists say removing "tampon taxes" is one way to help women inch closer to accessing and affording sanitary products.
Tampon tax refers to the different types of taxes imposed on feminine hygiene products, including period products such as pads, menstrual cups and may include sales tax, VAT and others.
Campaigners further say governments still look at feminine products as luxury items, rather than consumer goods or basic necessities, meaning the tax imposed on them is akin to a "luxury tax", imposed on items considered non-essential, which only wealthy people will buy. These taxes are usually higher than on basic goods.
[...] Across Africa, and the world, lack of access to menstrual hygiene products due to high cost or because they're not available in rural or remote areas has had a huge impact on millions of women.
While there is no single piece of research into how many girls miss school globally, studies in different regions and countries reveal that thousands of girls miss many days of education every year because they're on their period.
[...] A study in Kenya found that 95% of menstruating girls missed between one and three days a month while another 70% reported a negative impact on their grades, and more than 50% said they were falling behind in school because of menstruation.
[...] Ibrahim Faleye was around 10 years old when he started buying menstrual pads for his sister. Growing up around girls in the Nigerian metropolis of Lagos, he thought it was a normal thing for every young man to do.
"We were an average family and we could afford sanitary pads so I believed it was the same for other families. When I found out that many people cannot afford the products, I was shocked," he says.
[...] UNFPA defines period poverty as "the struggle many low-income women and girls face while trying to afford menstrual products".
The UN says overall menstrual hygiene means women and girls have access to clean water and soap, accessible and clean toilets and latrines and the power to access these facilities in privacy without stigma and shaming, coupled with menstrual education for both boys and girls.
In response to the BBC research, Nokuzola says: "It shouldn't be this way. The fact that a woman has to choose between a loaf of bread, sustaining her family and menstrual products is really sad and concerning... (MORE - details)