Period poverty and priorities: Are we asking the right questions?

In an inflationary environment which we are all journeying through in Sri Lanka in 2022, the cost of everything (with the exception of wages and salaries) has more than doubled. This is the reality that individuals and families, workplaces and communities and the country at large, whether rich, richer, poor or poorer are facing whichever part of the nation you live in. 

As a result, every man, woman and child has had to, and continues to have to make daily choices, daily priorities in order to get by, let alone live, in one of the world’s loveliest nations. It’s the choices we make today, that will unravel our futures. Do we use the car less, and bus it more often? Do we cook for 2 meals instead of 3 times a day and stretch the gas and save on electricity? Do we give up a family trip to support a child with one more class as he prepares for his A/Ls? It’s about what is important to us isn’t it?  

Did you know that for a teenager to come to Aluthgama town from Miriswatta junction located a bit further from the Welipenna exit (approximately 20 km) one way, it costs Rs. 150 in a CTB bus? Some parents spend as much as Rs. 8,000 for a school van for their child to go to school – amounting to a cost of around Rs. 400 per day per child for transport to and from school. A meal of bread for a family of 4 or 5 persons for one day also costs Rs. 300-400. An average call and data package on a mobile vendor costs around Rs. 400-500 a month. The average bill for 3 subjects A/Ls tuition – and this for group classes for the month will cost approximately Rs. 5,000-6,000 a month. On average a father buys 1/2 bottle of arrack – and the cheapest in the market is around Rs. 1,000. A pack of 10 sanitary napkins costs 250-350 which is the average requirement of a menstruating woman for a month.

So my question to our learned parliamentarians and activists is, are you asking the right question? Is the time and focus of the parliament of a near-failed state to be spent on discussing why children miss school or that children miss school during a menstrual cycle? We have but so few women parliamentarians, and I am asking you, have you really understood the problems of menstruating women before making the cost of sanitary napkins your cause? Are there not more pressing issues around women and children to ensure a progressive productive family and nation? Do you know the physiological pain and discomfort and stomach cramps women go through? This may also be one reason that children choose not to attend school or women choose to take leave from their workplaces.

Should we not be asking the question, why is the purchase and use of sanitary napkins not a priority in SL homes? 

In a home where there is a menstruating student or young woman should not a packet of sanitary napkins be amongst the top 10 if not at least the top 5 items on a mother’s and father’s shopping list? Rice, dhal, onions, sugar, tea, vegetables, eggs, and sanitary napkins?

Do we even understand that proxy use of cloth can lead to urinary tract infections and long-term issues of feminine health and hygiene? 

Many families across socio economic strata, get into debt and spend over Rs. 100,000 to celebrate their daughter becoming a young woman inviting the entire village (certainly in excess of 100 people) sometimes over 2-3 functions. Did you pause to consider that this young woman can have a packet of sanitary napkins costing even Rs. 300 each month for 30 years with that money?

Where are our priorities as a nation Sri Lanka? Where is the respect, love and empathy for our girl child and women in our families? My dear President and Parliamentarians, your action to reduce duty and VAT on sanitary napkins is welcome, but supporting the families to prioritise feminine hygiene, educating the women of this country on this matter will have a more far reaching impact. 

Let’s prioritise the health of our girl child. Each mother must believe it is important. Each father must ensure it happens. Every husband must support his wife through it. Every girl and woman must demand it as her right and she must feel comforted in her pain and discomfort.   

A sanitary napkin packet a month will keep a woman healthy and well; so let’s make that our priority as a family and as a nation. Health is wealth they say, and the health of the woman of the home is the wealth of a nation, as it is she who grows into the mother of the home, supporting, encouraging and facilitating the progress and prosperity of the family.  

 

Ramani Samarasundera

Mother of daughters