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We Need To Talk About Menstruation and not just about the TAX on Sanitary Pads

Why the Conversation About Menstrual Health In India Needs To Go Beyond The Tax On Sanitary Pads?

In a country where a majority of women are too poor to have a piece of cotton cloth, debating the merit of a couple of percentage points hike in tax on sanitary pads feels like a futile exercise.

What I have observed that some of the discussions that resulted following the declaration of the Goods and Services Tax rate were in fact largely baffling and disappointing. For an instant, most contended that 88% of Indian women don’t use sanitary pads and quickly ended with demanding the lifting of GST or criticising it. It almost makes it seems like that women can’t purchase napkins because of the GST. Yes, taxing sanitary pads while eliminating several other items reflects the poverty of policy-decision, But It is obvious that this increase in taxes or 2-3 rupees in taxes altogether doesn’t play a significant role in a majority of women’s decision to not a buy a sanitary pad.

I think the issues pertaining to menstrual health in India go above and beyond the affordability of these pads and concerns remain over issues related to access, awareness, and disposability of menstrual hygiene products. All these need to become an urgent national conversation. Because very few individuals talk about periods, it is difficult to persuade women to switch to healthier menstrual practices, as it couldn’t be farther from the reality of this country.

Patriarchy as a deterrent

Menstrual health is a hush-hush topic in India, particularly among the underprivileged and illiterate sections of the society. Since the beginning of time, patriarchy has dictated that women should be able to endure the pain and discomfort of menstruation without complaining about it. Even today, a large part of the male population believes that PMS is a myth, and considers menstruation as a disgusting topic. Unlike poverty, malnutrition, and population explosion, the problems associated with menstrual health are not blatantly visible in our country. How can this problem then be solved when a huge chunk of the population is oblivious to or refuses to accept its existence in the first place? The solution lies in a progressive and systemic removal of the apathy towards menstruation that exists in the Indian mind set. A single debate regarding reducing the price of sanitary pads is not going to vanquish the taboo associated with menstruation.

The Lack of Menstrual Awareness

Despite the fact that the curriculum of Indian schools continues to evolve as per the modern scenario, menstrual health education is still not a mandatory part of the syllabus. This is why it is not just the uneducated women who lack the knowledge regarding menstrual hygiene, but also the women who are literate, working professionals. A study conducted by UNICEF revealed that 83% of Indian women had no idea what to expect from menstruation when they first started bleeding. In fact, the cultural taboo associated with menstruation is so strong that most girls who used traditional cotton pads when they reached puberty were hesitant to dry them in the sun even though this step is vital towards keeping the cloth infection-free. It is high time that we don’t just distribute free pads to the women of the country but also educate them on how to use and discard them correctly and how to keep their feminine parts clean throughout their cycle.

Question of Quality

While many have raised their voices against the soaring prices of sanitary pads, most have overlooked the fact that these pads have been listed under the section of Miscellaneous Items, which includes other articles such as towels and crayons, when they should ideally be placed in the Health category. An item that forms an essential and largely irreplaceable part of female hygiene requires all the stringent quality checks that are reserved for “Health” goods in India. Studies show that poor menstrual health is one of the causes of HPV infections, which often lead to cervical cancer in women. This further enhances the need for the establishment of quality standards that all brands selling sanitary pads must conform to.

The massive waste footprint

Another issue revolving around sanitary pads that most people tend to ignore is the massive waste footprint left behind by used pads. Some of the materials used for making these pads take hundreds of years to fully disintegrate, yet the environmental hazards of these materials are hardly ever discussed on a public forum. Along with the price of the product, its waste footprint is one area of concern that the policy makers need to address urgently by supporting the design of pads using more sustainable materials.

To sum it all up, whether or not sanitary pads are declared tax-free by the government, the grey cloud of poor menstrual awareness will continue to loom over the country. It is time to initiate new threads of conversation that focus on spreading knowledge among the female population regarding the usage of these products and regarding feminine hygiene in general. Just ensuring access to sanitary pads will not resolve the unspoken menstrual health issues that many women of our country suffer from.

Tags: Gyaenacologist, irregular Menstrual Cycle, Irregular Mensturation, Irregular Periods, Menstrual Awareness, Menstrual Health, Menstrual Hygiene, Menstrual Products, OBGYN, Women Health, Womens Health, Womens Health care, womens issues