Luxury tax on sanitary pads

We are in an era of reacting with 'Ei' at prices when shopping in stores or markets. I am no stranger to cold shocks and reactions and so I prepare my purse for them. However, some months back when purchasing disposable YAZZ sanitary pads, I was thrown into deep thought by the price.

At the time, it was ten cedis and while that was affordable to me, I was well aware that most Ghanaians do life with ten cedis. That means that is how they survive daily for food and water. How then can the average Ghanaian girl or woman (who is already disadvantaged) afford to buy sanitary pads to accommodate her monthly “Blood, Sweat, and Tears” process?

“Blood, Sweat and Tears” is mostly used by people to highlight the painful road they trudge to victory. You may think it should be reserved for big fights and life-changing courses but this is a monthly case of big fights and life-changing courses due as ladies.

This is the fate of women as soon as they are thrown into the whirlwind of adolescence, no matter their financial state.

As I write this, YAZZ sanitary pads are being sold at 17 Ghana cedis per pack. Brethren. I know things are getting expensive but such an essential good like a disposable sanitary pad cannot be part of the trend.

It is even more disappointing when you find that this exorbitant price is partly because sanitary pads have been listed as a luxury good by the woeful government of Ghana.

Admittedly, I am no financial whizz so I had to learn what luxury tax meant but even before that I knew for sure it had nothing to do with sanitary pads (insert a calm, charged with anger smile). Here is what I learnt:

A luxury tax is a sales tax or surcharge levied only on certain products or services that are deemed non-essential or accessible only to the super-wealthy.

Color me vindicated! A luxury tax? That excludes very essential and basic goods such as sanitary pads from its bracket! Basically, a huge, 'fuck you' [Excuse my French; but hey, if the president can flex his French, so can I] The government goes ahead to classify disposable sanitary pads as luxury goods and therefore attract an import tax of 20% and a value-added tax of 12.5%.

Blood - Sweat - Tears. These are the things that mostly characterize menstruation for us women. The menstruation process is a cycle; this means that the blood (pain), sweat, and tears are not only limited to when we are menstruating. Pre-menses, during menses, and post-menses all, come with their punishing set of chaos. This includes the swell of the breasts which is accompanied by increased sensitivity and pain, cramps, joint pains, exhaustion, and generally a crappy physical, mental and emotional feeling.

I know. It comes with the job description of being a woman. We know. So, we soldier on, get some pain meds, go about our daily activities, and hustle to afford our sanitary pads. Apart from basic respect, and periodic baby treatment; we don't ask for much do we? So please, why make our menstruation experience more difficult than it is already with exorbitant prices?

I am not the only one who finds this outrageous: there are a plethora of groups that are advocating for all women and calling on the government to remove such insulting taxes from sanitary pads. However, in our recent budget read, we were informed by the finance minister that VAT has been increased to 15%. If the government is anything to stand by, we know we are in for a long exhausting, and disappointing ride.

I then decided with a group of like-minded friends to put my outrage to some use. Starting last year, we began a commitment to help our community in our little way with the help of donations from willing and kind-hearted hearts like yours. Last year, we fed the streets of selected places in Accra and reached approximately 250 homeless people and street kids.

This year, in this season of giving we are looking to distribute sanitary pads to the adolescent girls at the Nungua Methodist School. Tagging it the 'Sanitary Pad Drive' we are looking to distribute two packs each to these girls and educate them on some pertinent issues in reproductive health and hygiene while throwing in some small refreshments.

We hope by doing this we alleviate the increasing cost and burden from the tired shoulders of their parents. Kindly join us to make this dream come true and spread much awareness of the need to remove the atrocious luxury tax on disposable sanitary pads.

Menstruating already costs Blood, Sweat, and Tears.