• Expanding period tax pushes sanitary napkins out of reach

The skyrocketing cost of living has had a disproportionate impact on women, with one such instance involving their inability to afford proper menstrual hygiene products, especially with the imposition of high taxes on these products. 

The financial burden placed on the biological process of menstruation ensures that many women and girls face restricted access to what is an essential commodity in maintaining menstrual hygiene. Recent research has revealed startling statistics on the state of period poverty in Sri Lanka, with findings demonstrating the increasingly unaffordable nature of menstrual hygiene products. 

A policy brief by the Advocata Institute with the support of the Family Planning Association of Sri Lanka (FPASL) underscored the impact of the lack of affordability of sanitary napkins, which had worsened in recent years following the declining purchasing power induced by Covid-19 and the economic crisis and compounded by the high taxes on such products. 

The Advocata brief outlines inconsistencies in the policy structure that leads to high taxes on sanitary napkins. While the Value-Added Tax (VAT) amendment in 2023 ensured that previously exempted sanitary napkins were no longer exempted, para-tariffs such as the Port and Airport Development Levy (PAL) and cess have also remained in effect. 

Significantly, despite the Government recently exempting various items from para-tariffs – including non-essential items such as artillery weapons, gold jewellery, exercise equipment, golf equipment, and raw silk – sanitary napkins were notably excluded from the list. 

Accordingly, under the current tax structure, tax on menstrual products stands at 51.07% (without the 2.5% Social Security Contribution Levy/SSCL). Under the April 2023 post-VAT removal tax structure, the tax stood at 25.6%. 

“The removal of para-tariffs on other items shows that this is a viable policy path, and therefore the decision not to extend it to an essential item such as sanitary napkins is a clear policy oversight,” Advocata notes, further pointing out that taxes on sanitary napkins account for a mere 0.0021% of 2022’s Government revenue. 

The findings further reveal that the absolute period poverty rate had decreased to 40% in 2019 from 50% in 2016, however emphasising that the Covid pandemic and ensuring economic crisis would have eroded purchasing power significantly since then.  

According to FPASL Senior Manager – Advocacy Harini Fernando, Sri Lanka lacks proper statistics on the extent of period poverty at present. While the Advocata study had calculated the data for 2019 based on the Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES), data for 2022 was lacking at present and would be calculated towards the end of the year or early next year, she told The Sunday Morning. 

Shifting priorities

Regardless, anecdotal evidence suggests that period poverty continues to impact an increasingly wider segment of women and girls post-crisis. 

“From our work on the ground, we’ve understood that a lot of people who previously used sanitary pads have returned to using cloth pads because they can’t afford to buy pads any longer. Moreover, they have other needs within their families which they want to prioritise over spending on sanitary pads.

“We have found that people are facing this situation in areas like Hambantota and the plantation sector. Some are finding it difficult to go back to using cloth pads now since they have become accustomed to disposable sanitary pads.”

The substantial price increase caused by high taxes has resulted in most brands of sanitary napkins being out of reach or expensive for the average consumer. According to the policy brief, a packet of sanitary napkins has undergone a staggering increase of 92% compared to before the economic crisis. 

“There is a huge difference in prices now – it’s almost a 100% increase. However, there is a cheap option available in the market for Rs. 150 per packet, but its quality is questionable,” Fernando added. 

“Doctors recommend that a pad be worn only for around 4-6 hours before being changed, meaning that a woman would require at least four pads per day. Assuming a person menstruates for five days, they would require 20 pads for that particular cycle. This will amount to around Rs. 550-600 per month if they buy two packets.”

Accordingly, high taxes are pushing people away from the most convenient option to manage menstruation, in a backdrop where other options such as menstrual cups remain stigmatised due to cultural reasons. 

“Since disposable sanitary pads are the most commonly accepted period product in Sri Lanka and also the item that is mostly available in the country, people typically prefer to resort to these products. We can’t introduce tampons or menstrual cups since people are concerned about using such products due to concepts such as virginity, etc. Moreover, these products are only available in areas like Colombo.”

Impact on health and education 

The lack of access to menstrual products and the resulting lack of good menstrual health and hygiene play a fundamental role in preventing women, girls, and other menstruators from reaching their full potential. 

According to the World Bank, to effectively manage their menstruation, girls and women require access to Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) facilities, affordable and appropriate menstrual hygiene materials, information on good practices, and a supportive environment where they can manage menstruation without embarrassment or stigma. 

Fernando noted that the presence of period poverty in Sri Lanka could result in health implications, especially if women lacked proper access to sanitary products and sanitary facilities like proper washroom facilities, clean water, pad disposal methods, etc. 

“If a single pad is worn throughout the day, which often takes place within factories and among schoolgirls, this can lead to different infections and in the long-term can even lead to cervical cancer, other types of diseases related to the reproductive system, and even infertility in women,” Fernando stated.

Period poverty also affects the education of girls. In low-income communities, where schools lack adequate water, sanitation, and hygiene services needed to enable schoolgirls to manage menstruation, their experiences at school are hampered, causing them to miss classes during menstruation. 

Fernando noted: “This causes a knowledge and education gap, since although schoolgirls miss out on school on the days they menstruate, their male counterparts will continue schooling. This will obstruct their education should it continue.”

Menstrual blood leaking onto white school uniforms poses another source of anxiety for schoolgirls. “When girls attend school while they are menstruating, they’re in constant fear of red patches appearing on their white uniforms and the humiliation they might face. All these anxieties affect their day-to-day functioning.”

Similarly, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights National Programme Analyst Sarah Soysa told The Sunday Morning: “Anecdotal evidence clearly shows that adolescent girls have been unable to go to school due to a lack of sanitary products and daily workers are unable earn a living as they are unable go to work without necessary menstrual products.”

She noted that women had deprioritised healthcare and sanitary requirements in order to manage their families, leading to more women and girls choosing options such as cloth pads and other reusable methods during menstruation, which had also impacted education and employment of women and girls.

Women and girls having access to safe and affordable sanitary materials for menstruation can lead to cascading effects on overall sexual and reproductive health, such as reducing teen pregnancy, maternal outcomes, and fertility, according to the World Bank. 

Policy measures 

Accordingly, Fernando noted that apart from the push for the complete removal of taxes on sanitary napkins alongside the Women Parliamentarians’ Caucus, they were looking at several measures to make sanitary napkins more accessible: “We are advocating to give free pads to schoolgirls and to identify low-income groups and give free pads to people of menstruating age in such families until there is a long-term solution to the issue. Even within schools, teachers can identify those who are in need of pads due to economic difficulties and supply free pads.”

She revealed that this suggestion had been brought up during a recent discussion, during which Opposition MP Dr. Harsha de Silva had noted that a voucher system was being considered, where needy schoolgirls would be identified and given a voucher to purchase pads. 

Another measure being looked into was to introduce reusable sanitary pads to certain areas, she noted. “We are working on introducing reusable cloth pads and giving them the technical knowledge from organisations like Selyn, which is making reusable cloth pads and helping them continue it as a small business. This will allow those without access to disposable sanitary napkins to at least use cloth pads of proper quality instead of rags.”

Further, the FPASL was working with the plantation sector to introduce the sustainable option of period cups, Fernando shared, noting that they were targeting married women for this given the prevailing concepts surrounding virginity which made it difficult to advocate for period cups for unmarried women. 

Meanwhile, Soysa said: “Advocates, activists, civil society, the UN, and some policymakers who are champions of the cause are lobbying for tax removal of period products as well as for the standardisation of the reusable sanitary napkin in the country.”

Promises yet to materialise 

Meanwhile, speaking to The Sunday Morning, Opposition MP Rohini Wijeratne Kavirathna noted that the prevailing economic crisis had deprived many women and girls from access to sanitary napkins. “There is a significant tax on sanitary napkins. Therefore, low-income families cannot even reach the ability to afford these products. This will pave the way for numerous future problems as well.”

She added: “Sanitary napkins are essential items for women and girls. Making them a luxury item constitutes a deprivation of their rights, as is not being able to manage their menstruation in a hygienic manner. The Government should reduce these taxes on sanitary pads, since such high taxes make it impossible for people to afford these products.” 

Observing that the inability to afford period products led to schoolgirls missing out on school, she stressed: “If the education of schoolgirls breaks down, it will become problematic in the future to empower them financially.”

She therefore stressed that the Government had a responsibility in this regard: “Developed countries provide free sanitary napkins to schoolchildren. While the Education Ministry has pledged to provide free sanitary napkins to schools, I am yet to see this materialise at any school. This matter has been discussed at the Sectoral Oversight Committee on Women and Gender as well, where once again the Minister made this promise. However, even with the commencement of the new school term, we are yet to see this happen.”