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Tampons, bandages, painkillers: How much does menstruation cost?

2019-10-04T17:29:17.621Z


Tampons, bandages, painkillers - all this costs money. Activists demand more attention and lower taxes on hygiene products. But how high are the costs really?



It's really only trivial things, most of the time she's in the house anyway. They are bought along with apples, shampoo and toilet paper. And still: tampons, pads, deposits cost money. It may not be a big buzz, but it's a cost that only people with menstruation have. So mostly women, but also transmen. And they can pile up.

A few weeks ago, British MP Danielle Rowly caused a stir when she said in parliament, "I have my period and that cost me £ 25 this week." She cited a poll that shows that British women spend 550 euros (an average of 20,500 euros in life) on their period each year.

The calculation not only took into account the cost of hygiene products such as tampons, sanitary pads, insoles and menstrual cups. It also involved many things that women said they needed during or because of the period: painkillers, chocolates, chips, magazines, and new underwear, for example. A similar estimate of the Huffington Post comes to 15,500 euros, which an average American woman spends in her life because of the period.

What does the period really cost?

For Germany, there are no surveys on the cost of menstruation. However, it is known that more than half of the women in Germany use tampons. This was the result of a market research study for 2017.

A calculation example: A large pack of 64 tampons of a popular brand costs about 4.75 euros in the drugstore. Tampons should be changed about every six hours according to the manufacturer, so that makes four tampons a day, with an average of five days of bleeding that are 20 tampons per cycle. With an average of 456 periods between 13 and 51 years, the woman needs 9,120 tampons in life. That's equivalent to 143 packs, which would cost today about 677 euros. Not counting: The many tampons that are lost in handbags and on the road.

For bandages and panty liners, the price range is similar to tampons. The still relatively new menstrual cups are more expensive at ten to 15 euros in retail sales, but can be used again and again. Manufacturers even speak of five to ten years of service life. In the long run, they would be much cheaper than disposable hygiene products.

For a quarter of women in Germany, painkillers are regularly added. A pack of 20 tablets costs between four and ten euros - depending on the brand and ingredient. Only for the bare essentials - hygiene products and painkillers - should most women in Germany make do with a maximum of five euros per period. But since the period is different for every woman, the personal value can be significantly higher or lower. Because some have very severe pain and bleeding, others hardly notice anything about their menstruation.

"That's very important"

Five euros do not sound like much. Nevertheless, feminists fight to reduce these costs. "For a student, or someone who has just started training, it's different from a working woman, not to mention people who may not be living," says Theresa Lehmann, an activist on menstruation employed. "You could accommodate women, especially considering they earn less in most cases."

Theresa Lehmann

Theresa Lehmann

A study by the Child Relief Organization Plan found in 2017 that one in ten girls in the UK could not afford hygiene products. Almost half had already missed classes because of their monthly bleeding. "Access to hygiene products is first and foremost the prerequisite for participating in public life," says Lehmann. "That's very important."

"Bleeding is not a luxury!"

The Hartz IV ruleset provides for "health care" 15.55 euros a month. Toothpaste, allergy tablets, doctor visits - all of which should be paid for. There is also a cheap pack tampons for two euros in the weight. SPD politician Nanna-Josephine Roloff has therefore launched a petition with a party friend, in which they call for lower VAT on hygiene products. So far, more than 80,000 people have signed.

Sven Rehder

Nanna-Josephie Roloff and Yasemin Kotra

Currently, the usual 19 percent VAT on tampons, sanitary towels, panty liners and menstrual cups. Feminists demand that they change that and tax them at the reduced rate of seven percent - such as food, pet food, and books. The large pack of brand tampons would be 48 cents cheaper. "These 19 percent are considered a luxury tax," says Roloff. "But why is bleeding luxury, it's something that makes women a woman, that's a fiscal discrimination that has to be eliminated."

Many countries have already gone this route and have abolished the so-called tampon tax. In Kenya, Canada, Ireland and, more recently, India, women's hygiene products are sold completely tax-free. Other countries, such as France and the United Kingdom, have significantly reduced the tax.

MIRROR ONLINE

And Germany? Upon request, the Ministry of Finance said: "A reduced taxation of feminine hygiene products is allowed but not compulsory". The legislature decided not to make use of the possibility. For classification into a tax rate, it is generally irrelevant whether an item is a luxury item.

Are tampons more luxurious than caviar?

In fact, some products fall under the reduced tax rate that could be considered a luxury: paintings, collectibles, cut flowers, caviar. But a revision "would require a broad social and political consensus that is not apparent, at least at the moment," said the ministry.

It is exactly this consensus that Nanna Roloff tries to achieve. Your petition is symbolic. But she and her fellow campaigners want to place the issue in the SPD and carry it into the government. The Jusos have already convinced them. From the ministry of Olaf Scholz (SPD) it is said, however, that the reduced tax rate is anyway "not a suitable means to achieve a lasting relief for those affected". It can not be guaranteed that companies actually pass on the lower tax rate.

An argument that Roloff does not understand. "That's where the tax office rests on the open market, which is a capitalist way of thinking, which is simply an impudence for a Social Democratic-led ministry." The Ministry of Family, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth - also in the hands of the SPD - does not even comment on the issue.

"It's just a matter of perspective, and in German politics it's simply very male-dominated," says activist Lehmann.

Source: spiegel

All life articles on 2019-10-04

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