Thursday 26 May 2016

Thinking Out Loud: Why Are Feminine Products a Luxury?

On my way to the till at my local grocery store, here in London, I happened to pass by the pads and tampons and couldn't help, but notice their prices and come to the realisation that it is not just that they have not been properly spread round the globe, but that they are actually a luxury!
£3 for a pack of pads?!

I had never really paid attention to the prices of the feminine products I purchased, but on that day, I compared the prices I saw to those of the groceries I had in my trolley.

I could have bought three 1litre bottles of juice (not from concentrate) for the price of one pack of pads. I could have bought 4 cans of coconut milk for the price of one pack of pads, I could have bought three bags of rice, 4 bags of pasta, et cetera, for the price of one pack of pads. Wow!

Buying a bottle of non-concentrate juice is a luxury let alone three litres of it. I am just as comfortable without a bottle of juice as I am with a bottle of juice, but I will never be as comfortable without the feminine products I require as I am with them.

Why make some women have to save money in order to be able to afford to take care of their families and to afford feminine products. Why not make the feminine products more affordable?

Why make women be subject to embarrassment due to getting preventable blood stains on their clothes instead of making the tools to prevent these stains more accessible to them?

Why make women have to opt for unhygienic things or things that would lead to others making a mockery of them in order to prevent stains instead of making better things more accessible?

Why make women and girls spend weeks that they could be getting an education at home waiting for their periods to end in order to return to school?

A period, the menstrual cycle or whatever you choose to call it is a natural process, it WILL happen. The only way to stop it is to tamper with your hormones in order to reduce your fertility or to go crazy and have multiple children till you reach menopause. What is better for women? What is better for our economy? What is better for our community?

Feminine products are not a luxury, they are a necessity for the health and well-being of every woman for most of their lives.

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