Period poverty: In Africa, women are being priced out of buying sanitary ware
Period poverty: In Africa, women are being priced out of buying sanitary ware
BBC research reveals that women in Africa spend up to 13% of their income on menstrual products.
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/1305190
Archived version: https://archive.ph/LcEgW
Archived version: https://web.archive.org/web/20230810233606/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-66423981
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6This is the best summary I could come up with:
While Ghana was the country with the least affordable menstrual products of those we surveyed, women across Africa are struggling with "period poverty" - something activists are trying to change.
According to our research, a woman in Ghana earning a minimum wage of $26 a month would have to spend $3, or one in every $7 they make to buy two packets of sanitary towels containing eight pads.
Francisca Sarpong Owusu, a researcher at the Center for Democratic Development (CDD) in Ghana, says many vulnerable girls and women are using cloth rags which they line with plastic sheets, cement paper bags and dried plantain stems when menstruating because they cannot afford disposable sanitary towels.
Many menstrual health activists say removing "tampon taxes" is one way to help women inch closer to accessing and affording sanitary products.
Across Africa, and the world, lack of access to menstrual hygiene products due to high cost or because they're not available in rural or remote areas has had a huge impact on millions of women.
South African campaigner Nokuzola lives with endometriosis, a disease in which tissue similar to the lining of the uterus grows outside it and can make menstruation very painful.
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5"They can't afford modern products so they're slapping together imitations out of trash"
Did they not have a functioning system before tampons were invented?
0This was my snap initial thought too but it does not hold up well. Their previous system may not be sanitary by today's standards, could be impractical to access in modern times, or socially humiliating now. Even if all of those were non concerns though I believe we should still be able to provide modern solutions to people requesting them instead of writing it off as "be happy with the solution you had yesterday"
6This is Africa we're talking about. That whole continent was the playground of ruthless European colonizers for centuries, and I'm under the impression it wasn't exactly a paradise before that, either. So, probably not.
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-1Meh. How many decades do menstral cups and reuaabele pads last?
-9Easy to say, for areas where drinkable water is scarce
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