Lebanon crisis plunges women into period poverty
BEIRUT: With prices soaring in crisis-hit Lebanon, Sherine can no longer afford sanitary pads. So instead each month, she is forced to make her own using baby nappies or even rags. “With all the price hikes and the frustration of not being able to manage, I’d rather stop having my period altogether,” the 28-year-old told AFP, tears rolling down her cheeks.
The price of menstrual pads, the vast majority of which are imported, has risen by almost 500 percent since the start of a financial crisis the World Bank has dubbed likely one of the world’s worst since the 1850s. Packs of sanitary towels now cost between 13,000 and 35,000 Lebanese pounds between $8.60 and $23 at the official exchange rate - up from just 3,000 pounds ($2) before the economic crisis.
With more than half the population living in poverty, tens of thousands of women are now on a desperate hunt for affordable alternatives. Sherine initially turned to cheap sanitary pads that she said caused skin irritation, but even those have become too costly. “Right now, I’m using towels and pieces of cloth,” she said. “At first, I felt defeated,” the young mother told AFP, her hair tied up in a bun. “But I chose to put my daughter first. I would rather buy her milk. As for me, I can make do.”
But that has often meant repurposing some of the diapers a charity shop has given her for her toddler, cutting each in half to create two separate pads. She said the process has been one of trial and error. In the beginning, “I was always having to check if (blood) had leaked and stained my pants,” she said.
Newspaper, toilet paper
The Lebanese pound has lost more than 90 percent of its value against the dollar on the black market since the autumn of 2019, and Lebanese earning salaries in the local currency have seen their buying power plummet. The government has subsidized essential goods including medicine, fuel and flour to ease the blow, but has come under fire for failing to include pads on its list.
In the absence of state support, the Dawrati (My Period) initiative was
launched last year to address rising period poverty in Lebanon. The group distributes free menstrual products to women in need, including some who were once members of the fast-vanishing middle class. “Middle-class women also need them - like a bank employee whose salary in Lebanese pounds is no longer enough to get by,” said cofounder Line Masri.
According to Dawrati, half of women suffering from period poverty are using newspaper, toilet paper or old rags instead of pads, while twothirds
of adolescent girls have no means of purchasing sanitary products. Yet the association is struggling to keep up. “We aren’t able to meet demand... because donations have declined significantly,” Masri said. At a Beirut charity store initially set up to distribute free clothes to the needy, employee Izdihar said a growing number of women were struggling to manage their periods. Izdihar said she even sometimes had to resort to giving baby diapers from the store to her three daughters, aged 12 to 14. — AFP