By Maneesha Dullewe   Sri Lanka’s economic crisis continues to have far-reaching consequences, especially for its women and girls, with the rising cost of living making accessing menstrual hygiene products a serious concern. However, newly-appointed Minister of Women and Child Affairs Geetha Kumarasinghe told The Sunday Morning that she was planning to request the President to consider the removal of taxes on menstrual hygiene products, terming the current levy ‘unjust’.  While Sri Lanka’s exorbitant taxes on sanitary napkins contributes in part to making menstrual hygiene products inaccessible to a large swathe of women, this is not the only reason, as many have pointed out, including activists and politicians that The Sunday Morning spoke to.   Unaffordable and unavailable   Malsha Kumaranatunge, Founder of Free to Flow – an initiative to end period poverty in Sri Lanka – told The Sunday Morning that the issue of period poverty was even more acute outside of Colombo and that access to menstrual hygiene products was more precarious in outstation areas.   “It’s not just about the unaffordability of sanitary napkins, it’s also about unavailability,” she said. “Right now, with the import restrictions and the state of the product market in Sri Lanka, brands such as Fems and Eva and so on are not able to supply to the entire country. Given the prices and the taxes, they mainly aim to supply to Colombo. Women outside Colombo face a serious issue, where it’s not just that they can’t afford pads, they also cannot find pads, because these products are not available in stores in the smaller towns.”  She noted that having to import all the raw materials to produce sanitary napkins in Sri Lanka rendered the prices of the products expensive. “Simply removing the taxes won’t work; there needs to be some kind of Government subsidising of these products. But I guess since men don’t need such a product, they don’t see this as a necessity, although it is. In the future, hopefully, a certain percentage of sanitary napkins will be subsidised by the Government.”  The market conditions too had affected availability, she noted: “The numbers produced by local manufacturers are very small; they do not have the ability to provide for the whole country. This is why we have been pushing for import taxes to be removed since there are very cheap products in places like India that can be brought down.”    Stop taxing menstruation   Research by Colombo-based think tank Advocata revealed that the market faced two types of taxes: border taxes when products are imported and sales taxes at the point of retail, both of which created distortions in the market. While sales taxes affect both importers and local producers, border taxes increase the price of the goods, allowing local producers to price their products well above their marginal cost of production as the high border taxes price out low-price competition from abroad.  “So far, we’ve managed to get Customs duty removed,” Kumaranatunge said, referring to then Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe signing a gazette notification under the Revenue Protection Act No. 19 of 1962 on 31 May this year to remove general import duty on menstrual hygiene products following campaigning by Kumaranatunge and other activists. “We are hoping that we’ll get all other taxes removed as well in future, such as cess.”  She noted that the conversation around periods remained rather taboo and one that most people were reluctant to have.  “The taboo around periods also needs to be eliminated, and education about this whole process [of menstruation] will allow this to happen. The conversation around periods is not just about sanitary napkins or other sanitary products being available, it’s also about the education around it. When people are aware that there are other products and other items they can use, they can make better choices for themselves.”    More than just pads   Speaking to The Sunday Morning, feminist researcher and activist Vraie Cally Balthazaar stated that period poverty involved a larger conversation on women’s access to toilets, sanitation, etc., and not only sanitary napkins. “Period poverty incorporates a much broader conversation than just sanitary napkins,” she explained.  “Sanitary pads have indeed gone up in price, so there is a problem with access to pads. For households that are already struggling with no kerosene or food, as well as due to massive inflation, sanitary napkins will have become something unaffordable especially if they have several women in the family.  “There have also been more cases of absenteeism because these women can’t afford to buy pads. It becomes a challenge for a family to afford pads under these circumstances. Even hygiene products for women, from soap to basic self-care items, have become expensive. This is all a part of a larger issue,” she noted.  Balthazaar further noted that it would certainly become significantly more challenging for households to manage any kind of basic sanitation at this present moment. Moreover, the manufacturing of sanitary napkins will inevitably see an increase in cost, especially those manufactured in Sri Lanka.  For instance, research by Advocata has also found that 50% of households with women and girls of menstruating age in Sri Lanka cannot afford to spend enough money on hygiene products such as sanitary napkins.  Balthazaar shared that from her experiences in being involved in projects to build toilets for rural schools, it was clear that even providing these toilet facilities for schoolchildren was quite costly, as the Government could not manage such an expenditure, especially in a context where the State was struggling to ensure that basic functions such as examinations were taking place.  “It’s going to be even more challenging for the smaller schools to even think of being able to provide such facilities. Overall, it’s looking quite bleak, really.”    Lack of facilities   The impact of a lack of facilities and poor sanitation infrastructure for women and girls to deal with menstrual health was addressed by Medical and Civil Rights Professional Association of Doctors (MCPA) President Dr. Chamal Sanjeewa at a recent press conference.  He noted that schoolchildren, teachers, and young women in the garment industry were reporting higher rates of absenteeism during their menstruation period due to the increase in prices of sanitary napkins, especially in rural areas.  Balthazaar also shared that a dangerous trend that was emerging was that young schoolgirls and even women who possessed purchasing power were using pads for longer periods of time without changing them regularly, instead stretching out their period of use for the maximum possible amount of time. “This leaves them more vulnerable to infections and other diseases. Because sanitary napkins are too expensive, they want to extend the lifespan of a pad. While they do understand the gravity of this practice, they have to manage with what they have,” she observed.  Meanwhile, National People’s Power MP Dr. Harini Amarasuriya also expressed concern over the seriousness of the issue of period poverty, saying: “I have talked to women who have said that they have reverted to using cloth pads because they can’t afford sanitary napkins. Further, if there are more than one woman in the family, there’s higher absenteeism amongst girls as a result.”  She too noted that access to sanitary napkins was not the only issue, since access to sanitary facilities was also essential, with schools and workplaces requiring proper toilet, water, and disposal facilities for pads. Moreover, the social stigma around the period also needed to be addressed, she noted, emphasising that the issue was not simply about ‘not taxing the pad’. “Menstruation is not seen as something you can talk about – there are many women in Sri Lanka who suffer from endometriosis and other kinds of menstrual health conditions, which remain unaddressed,” she said.  With increased poverty and a lack of attention paid to infrastructure conditions, women will be unable to focus on menstrual hygiene. “Women are expected to deal with it – it’s not seen as an issue so it becomes less of a priority,” Dr. Amarasuriya noted, asserting that no action was being taken at the Government level to address increasing period poverty at present.    Minister to request tax removal   When The Sunday Morning contacted State Minister of Women and Child Affairs Geetha Kumarasinghe on the matter, she revealed that she would be presenting a letter to President Ranil Wickremesinghe on Friday (16) requesting the complete removal of taxes on sanitary napkins. Addressing the taxes on sanitary napkins, she said: “I believe that this is an unjust tax. The increased prices are a great burden on the female population of this country, a condition which has been caused by the imposition of taxes.” In addition to the request to the President regarding the taxes, Kumarasinghe also noted that attention should be paid to the plight of schoolchildren as well. “Schoolchildren require a proper mental environment in order to engage in their educational activities. The difficulties caused by the lack of access to menstrual hygiene will become a health issue. We are taking action to protect our girls and women, and this letter will be handed over to the President with this intention.” She noted that there were plans to make a request to provide free sanitary napkins, especially to schoolgirls, or to provide these products at a lower and fairer cost.  “The imposition of a luxury tax on sanitary napkins is regrettable,” she stressed.