I would like for you to take a moment and think about a woman you know. It could be your mother, your sister, a friend, significant other, or maybe even yourself. Think about the different hardships they endure, the obstacles they have overcome, and the adversity they may face in their everyday lives. Now, ask yourself, should having access to basic menstrual products be included in those difficulties?
On any given day, 62.5% of women worldwide do not have access to proper menstrual care.
Over the past decade or so, the issue of menstrual equity has been brought in to light and fiercely debated. Should women have access to free period products and menstrual care? More important than the question itself, is the question of why is this a debate in the first place? By forcing men and women alike to ask this question, true values held by the government, healthcare, and frankly humanity in regard to women are revealed. Many sides of this issue are concerned about a variety of topics including women’s overall health, access to low-income women in particular, and the education of adolescent girls. Many are also concerned with who will pay for this and how? Will women take advantage of these free products? These are all valid concerns that contribute to the conversation of menstrual equity.
Before we begin, I feel it might be useful to know exactly what getting your period entails, so let’s start there. The menstrual cycle is about twenty-eight to thirty-two days long and is on a constant loop. A girl’s period is the process of the shedding of the uterine lining. Remember that female figure I asked you to think about in the beginning of our conversation? Yep. This happens to her too. Every month. When this event occurs, a woman experiences bleeding for anywhere from three to eight days. In addition to the bleeding, women experience any number of other symptoms. These can include abdominal cramping, breakouts, sore and sensitive breasts, lower back pain, fatigue, bloating, diarrhea, nausea, gassiness, constipation, headaches, food cravings, and mood swings. As my fellow women know and you men can probably imagine, this is not a very pleasant experience. Due to this extensive list of symptoms, there are also a number of products that are needed to care for a woman during this time. Everyone knows the basics of pads, tampons, and you may even know about underwear liners; however, there are also menstrual cups, period underwear, new regular underwear, heating pads, pain relief medication, acne medication, and potentially birth control to consider.
Affording all of these different products can be next to impossible for many women around the world. Hannah Olsen, an online blogger, contributed to the conversation by laying how just how much a period actually costs. Based on a number of factors, including how long a period is on average, how long one can leave a tampon in- no more than eight hours-, and how many periods a woman may have in her lifetime, Olsen calculated the average amount women can expect to spend on the products alone. For tampons and pads she estimates that a woman could spend at a minimum $1039 over her lifetime. If they chose other, less conventional products such as the menstrual cup or period panties, the cost could be somewhere around $400. In addition to these costs, women have to spend money on the medications and heating pads. These can run a hefty bill of around $300-800. Having a period-being a woman-is very costly.
Unfortunately not all women can afford these costs. A study was conducted that surveyed women in the St. Louis area of Missouri. The study, run by E.J. Mundell, found that out of 200 women who were considered to be at or below the poverty line,
“two out of three had to go without feminine hygiene products at least once over the prior year, due to cost.”
“About one-fifth — 21 percent — said this happened on a monthly basis, and nearly half said they often had to make tough choices between buying food or period-related products.” Many women all over the world share this experience. Period products and care are simply too expensive and can’t be afforded. This causes many women to resort to other methods to care for themselves.
Ruth Cooper, a neuroscience and behavior major at the University of Notre Dame, gave a speech in her college course “Great Speeches” in which she discussed the tampon tax and how she feels it ridiculous and infuriating that the products to care for women on their period are seen as a “luxury”. In her speech, she points out that when women can’t afford to buy tampons or pads, they often resort to using whatever they can find, such as old rags, socks, or even paper. These women may also use the period products they do have for way longer than recommended. These alternative methods that low-income women are forced to use can cause serious health issues.
A lack of access to free menstrual care leaves women vulnerable to different diseases and infections. Using a tampon for longer than recommended-usually around 6-8 hours-can lead to toxic shock syndrome (TSS). This is a very serious and potentially life threatening disease that is caused by the growth of Staphylococcus aureus (staph) bacteria. This bacteria begins to grow and inhabit the uterus when a tampon is left in too long. The toxins from this bacteria enter the blood stream, which is not safe. In addition to TSS, women can contract different urinary tract infections (UTIs), vaginitis, and other bacterial infections. The risk of women having these health issues can be greatly reduced by providing access to free menstrual products and care to all women.
A woman’s health is not the only area of her life that is impacted by her lack of access to free menstrual care. In the United States, nearly one in five teenage girls living poverty loose educational opportunity due to this issue. This is a global issue as well, according to Megan Markle and World Vision, a humanitarian aid, development, and advocacy organization. During her time traveling throughout India with this organization in 2017, Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Sussex made some astonishing observations. She learned that 113 million girls are at risk of discontinuing their education all due to the simple fact that while on their period, these girls do not have proper supplies to take care of themselves. This hinders them from attending school. They fall too far behind to catch up which makes completing their education almost impossible. The Duchess also points out that when a girl is forced to miss school due to her period, she is behind her male classmates by 145 days. These baffling statistics show that lack of access to products and poor education are directly linked. By forcing women to pay for these bare-necessity products, an argument is made about the value of education for women. Simply put: a girl’s education is not highly valued by society, but making money is.
An important aspect to this conversation concerns who is going to pay for these products in order to make them free to the public. As Gina Davis points out in her essay “No, Our Tampons And Birth Control Shouldn’t Be Free”, we essentially end up paying for them anyway. She explains that in order for any government to make a product or service free to the people, it must be paid for using tax money. That would mean that taxes need to be raised to fit menstrual products into the budget of what the government can pay for and provide. Davis also makes the point that taxes would be raised more than what period products actually cost. A box of tampons, as we discussed earlier, costs around $7, but your taxes would be raised by much more than that. Not only would you be paying more for your own products, you would also be paying for someone else’s products.
Another concern of making tampons free is brought into light by Tennessee senator Joey Hensley. He expresses his concerns of state revenue taking a hit if the state lost the tax money made from purchasing period products. He estimated that the state of Tennessee would lose about $137,000 annually if these products were not taxed. The fact is, there is a lot of tax money made in the period industry. States rely on this money to be able to help pay for roads, schools, and parks. What would happen to these public services if this tax money was lost? Senator Hensley is also concerned that women would take advantage of the free products and hoard them for themselves. This could cause a supply shortage and lead to the same problems that were trying to be fixed.
All of these different concerns reveal the values that are most important to our society and different governments. For some health is more important, for others education is of the utmost value, even still economy and money are the most principle. The debate over menstrual equity has exposed what people value for women. One last time, I would like for you to think about that prominent woman in your life. What values do you have of her? What is most important?
Works Cited:
ACLU. “The Unequal Price of Periods.” ACLU.org, http://www.aclu.org/sites/default/files/field_document/111219-sj-periodequity.pdf.
Beachum, Lateshia. “Male Lawmaker Frets about Loss of State Income If Tampons Are Included in Tax-Free Holiday.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 13 Feb. 2020, http://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/02/13/tennessee-tampon-tax-joey-hensley/.
Cooper, Ruth. “Bleeding Money.” Fresh Writing, University of Notre Dame, freshwriting.nd.edu/volumes/2017/essays/bleeding-money.
Davis, Gina. “No, Our Tampons And Birth Control Shouldn’t Be Free.” The Odyssey Online, The Odyssey Online, 5 Aug. 2020, http://www.theodysseyonline.com/tampons-birth-control-shouldnt-free.
Markle, Meghan. “Meghan Markle: Periods Affect Potential.” Time, Time, 8 Mar. 2017, time.com/4694568/meghan-markle-period-stigma/.
Mayo Clinic Staff. “Toxic Shock Syndrome.” Mayo Clinic, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 18 Mar. 2020, http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/toxic-shock-syndrome/symptoms-causes/syc-20355384.
Mundell, E.J. “Study: Many Poor Women Can’t Afford Tampons, PadsD.” WebMD, WebMD, 16 Jan. 2019, http://www.webmd.com/women/news/20190116/study-many-poor-women-cant-afford-tampons-pads.
Muthara, Gladys. “Menstruation Can Stop Girls From Getting Education in Kenya.” Time, Time, 18 May 2016, time.com/4339388/kenya-menstruation-education/.
Olsen, Hanna Brooks. “How Much Does a Period Cost, Anyway?” Medium, Medium, 17 Oct. 2017, medium.com/s/bloody-hell/how-much-does-a-period-cost-anyway-6a2263828ae3.
Cosner Rhetoric 