Millions of South African females can’t afford basic sanitary products and are forced to stay away from work and school at certain times during their menstrual cycle, because they can’t comfortably go about their day.
According to Use Your Voice, a non-profit organisation, 88 per cent of the 4,25 million South African girls in school from Grades 4 to 12 do not have access to sanitary products.
Cosmopolitan SA has since launched an online petition to stop #TamponTax. They will present this petition directly to members of the Portfolio Committee on Women in South Africa, who will lodge the petition in Parliament on their behalf.
Sanitary products are subject to the same Value Added Tax (VAT) as ‘luxury items’. This year, it was announced during the Budget Speech that VAT was to increase to 15 per cent, meaning that these so-called ‘luxury items’ became even more expensive on 1 April 2018.
There are certain basic items that government considers a necessity – like brown bread and milk – that are not subject to VAT. These items are thus zero-rated, but women are still taxed on sanitary products that are in fact a basic necessity, because women can’t choose whether to menstruate or not. In contrast, although having sex is a choice, condoms are given out freely by the government.
Click here [https://www.change.org/p/tampontaxmustfall-join-cosmopolitan-south-africa-s-petition] to sign the petition.
• Source: Cosmopolitan SA and Use Your Voice NPO.
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