Why are we making our children pay to have periods?
COLUMNIST
IF YOU are squeamish, look away now. I am going to talk about blood. Worse than that. I am going to talk about periods. It may be the 21st century but menstruation is still a taboo subject.
Never mind that just over half the population is female and thus will have a personal interest in the issue at some point, periods are not something you find people readily discussing.
But we should be talking about them. Not least because it has emerged that some girls in Wales are missing school because they cannot afford sanitary protection.
Having periods is a bit of a bore at best, painful and with potentially nasty issues like endometriosis at worst – the damn things also cost a lot.
One survey estimates the average woman in the UK spends £18,450 over her lifetime on essential sanitary products. Of course the taxman (how could he be a woman here?) does not view them as essential and taxes them as luxury items instead.
The Conservatives pledged to scrap this 5% VAT but instead the then Chancellor, George Osborne, said £15m a year would go from the tax to women’s charities.
Wherever the cash is going, women have no choice. They have to pay for the products and the levy or hide away when they have their periods.
An odd sense of luxury and do-gooding these tax collectors have. When I am in need of a treat I rarely find myself thinking: “I must race out for a box of the finest tampons, but I feel so much less guilty because the tax on them will help fund a rape crisis centre.”
Maybe I should give it a try? After all, what celebration could possibly be complete without a pile of decadently luxurious pads from the chemist?
Taxes are, sadly, a sideshow when some girls are missing some of their education because of the high cost of sanitary protection.
One Plaid Cymru councillor who has been trying to tackle this was frustrated in her efforts to get free sanitary protection offered at secondary schools in her area, Cynon Taf County Borough Council, which covers some of the most deprived parts of Wales.
Last Wednesday Councillor Elyn Stephens, who represents Ystrad ward, tabled a motion asking for free tampons and towels for all 7,678 girls in the borough and acknowledging that sanitary products are “as essential as toilet paper for the personal hygiene of female pupils”.
She secured a commitment from the leader of the council for a review but the local authority stopped short of agreeing the motion and requested more information to look into the matter.
Coun Stephens hopes it is a step along the way and says her campaign was boosted by 85% voting in favour of free sanitary products in schools in an online poll conducted by Wales Online.
The 25-year-old says she has solid anecdotal evidence of girls in her borough missing class during their periods because they can’t afford to buy sanitary protection. This is echoed across the UK.
Earlier this year Freedom4Girls, a charity providing sanitary products for women in Kenya, launched a campaign for further research after police reported British girls from low-income families are missing school thanks to their periods.
Coun Stephens says that as one of three daughters brought up by a single mother, she knows all too well what a problem the high cost of sanitary protection is for some families.
“We estimate it would cost £10 per pupil per year to provide free sanitary products to girls in our secondary schools – a total of £70,000. In the grand scheme of the council budget that is not a lot,” she points out.
“This is an important issue on a UK-wide level, at a time when pay is being frozen and poorer people are getting poorer.
“As a council, we pay for toilet paper for two toilet functions. Why should girls have to pay for a third?
“The subject is taboo and it’s about time it was in the open. I know of girls missing school because they cannot afford sanitary protection. It should be dispensed free in schools. Yes, some schools do provide it but not all and some girls are too embarrassed or shy to ask.”
If you think all this is nibbling at the edges of economics when most of us are facing austerity, imagine this – you are sitting at school aged 11 when you start your period in class. You have no idea what to do or who to go to. Your clothes may need changing. Your teacher is wondering why you are not paying attention. You get free school meals. Your family income is low. You get no allowance. Pads or tampons are, quite simply, beyond your power to buy every month.
In this all too common scenario, how much easier it would be if free sanitary protection was available in dispensers in school toilets. Being caught short without toilet roll is the only vaguely similar feeling of panic.
Across the world sanitary products are viewed as vital for the health, wellbeing and full participation of women and girls.
The United Nations and Human Rights Watch have both linked menstrual hygiene to human rights. We may not be a developing country and we may have very many other financial burdens, but surely offering free sanitary protection to schoolgirls is a small price to pay for ensuring those who cannot afford it are not forced to miss classes once a month or suffer excruciating embarrassment?
The basic principle is that this is healthcare for children. We don’t pay for prescriptions in Wales so why are we making our children and their families pay to have periods? If they can afford sanitary products, all well and good – they can buy their own and leave the free products for others.
But if not it is simply unacceptable that some girls are missing school, and doubtless other opportunities, because they cannot afford having the periods they have no choice but to have.