African Women and Girls Still Struggle With Period Poverty

Earlier this month, a survey conducted by the BBC revealed that the cheapest sanitary pads were still beyond the reach of many African women and girls.

In Ghana, where menstrual products were least affordable among the nine countries surveyed, a woman earning a minimum wage of $26 a month would have to spend $3 — or over 10% of her monthly income — to buy two packets of sanitary towels containing eight pads.

Francisca Sarpong Owusu, a researcher at the Center for Democratic Development (CDD) in Ghana, confirmed to the FBomb that affording and accessing proper menstrual hygiene products are challenging for most Ghanaian women, and many resort to other potentially dangerous options.

“We have heard instances of most underprivileged girls and women using inadequate and unhygienic materials like old rags, socks, or cement papers to manage their periods,” Owusu said.

The high cost of menstrual products in Ghana, Owusu said, owes to the fact that the majority are imported and, therefore, heavily taxed and constantly affected by foreign exchange rates.

Ghanaian women also struggle with a lack of quality water, sanitation, and hygiene facilities and an overall lack of education when it comes to menstrual hygiene.

“Most girls do not know how to properly manage themselves during their monthly flow, and this poor management of menstrual hygiene has been linked to several health and emotional challenges,” Owusu added. “These interlinked issues exacerbate the prevalence of period poverty in Ghana.”

Owusu cited a lack of proper data and evidence on this issue and prevailing customs and traditions as the top reasons why the problem persists in Ghana.

“Menstruation remains a verbal taboo in most parts of Ghana, so most people do not want to speak of it in public. This, in a way, impacts policymaking around menstrual hygiene management,” she said.

In 2014, a policy proposed to make pads free garnered backlash from the opposition as people claimed that the president wanted to use girls’ menstrual blood for rituals. “This initiative never saw the light of day,” Owusu said.

Many activists say that removing “tampon taxes” has been touted as one way to improve the affordability of sanitary products and has been enacted elsewhere in Africa. In 2019, a campaign led by menstrual hygiene activist Nokuzola Ndwandwe led to the South African government scrapping the 15% value-added tax on sanitary pads and announcing free sanitary towels in public schools. Though that victory gave a “needed momentum” for the movement, Ndwandwe said, “more must be done to eradicate period poverty in South Africa.”

“It is deeply concerning that import duties and other taxes are still charged on menstrual pads,” Ndwandwe told the FBomb. “Period poverty does not discriminate. Even when women are working they often cannot afford their health living needs due to gender pay gaps,” she said. “Women have to choose between providing food for their families or affording menstrual products during their time of the month.”

Ndwandwe is currently leading another campaign, calling on the South African government to make sanitary pads free by passing a menstrual health rights bill.

“Sanitary pads should be free in the same model as condom supply. We have a condom factory in South Africa subsidized by the government where condoms are free for all,” she said. “Not to take away from HIV/AIDS activists, but then what’s stopping African governments from subsidizing menstrual health, as menstruation is a natural biological process?”

She also points to another aspect of period poverty, highlighting how the majority of unemployed people across the African continent are women, which results in women not being able to “access their basic needs, which keeps them and communities stuck in a perpetual vicious cycle of poverty,” she said, adding that period poverty also impacts girls’ access to quality education and career advancement opportunities for women.

“Menstrual health should not be a women-only issue,” Ndwandwe concluded. “It should be a societal concern where we all take a stand.”