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Menstrual Calculator: This is how much your period will cost in your life

2021-03-27T10:37:40.682Z


Tampons, sanitary napkins, painkillers, sick days: women all over the world pay a lot for their menstruation, and many cannot afford hygiene products. Our calculator shows you what your period costs - or would cost - in total.


On the holiday island of Mallorca, local women are currently secretly taking diapers with them from food banks or aid projects, not for children, but to cut them up and make sanitary towels from them - because many slipped into poverty during the pandemic, for hygiene items such as tampons or sanitary towels do they lack the money.

Worldwide, 1.8 billion menstruating people have to pay every month: for tampons or sanitary towels and often also for painkillers or even for lost work due to particularly severe pain during their period.

(Calculate here in our interactive calculator how much you have spent and will - or would spend - on your period so far and in your life.)

While most women in this country can afford hygiene products, millions of people in many developing and emerging countries have no access to tampons or sanitary towels.

And the products are comparatively extremely expensive in many places.

The economic consequences of the corona crisis, which often hit women more than men around the world, exacerbate this problem.

Enlarge image

Indian activists demand cheap hygiene products

Photo: JAGADEESH NV / EPA-EFE

Out of around 350 million women and girls of menstrual age in India, only around eight million use appropriate hygiene products.

The lockdown has made access even more difficult, as tampons and sanitary towels are often only sold in cities and many women have even less money available than they did before the pandemic.

In addition, especially in rural areas, they are considered unclean during their bleeding, are not allowed to enter religious sites and often do not dare to go to school.

In African countries, too, many girls do not go to school during their period because they do not have hygiene articles - they miss classes and later have poorer chances in the job market.

To this day, the period is taboo in many places around the world.

When it comes to menstruating for the first time, many girls are not informed: they do not know how to stop the bleeding, some are afraid of dying or of being injured.

Those who cannot afford hygiene products or have no access to them have to switch to alternatives such as newsprint, toilet paper, plastic bags, socks, scraps of cloth, rags or even sand or leaves - and risk serious infections.

Even in Great Britain, according to a “Plan International” study from 2017, almost half of the 14 to 21-year-olds surveyed are ashamed of their period, a quarter of them did not know what to do when they have their first menstrual period - and every tenth girl couldn't afford hygiene products.

In Scotland, too, women sometimes turn to old clothes or newspapers in times of need.

Different initiatives try to help women with different approaches, relying on cheaper and reusable hygiene products.

The Indian entrepreneur Arunachalam Muruganantham, for example, invented an easy-to-use machine that can be used to mass-produce inexpensive sanitary towels.

Non-governmental organizations such as »Goonj« or the Nepalese »Mirmirey Youth Society« manufacture sanitary towels from recycled cotton fabrics that can be washed and are biodegradable.

Enlarge image

Volunteers from the Mirmirey Youth Society in Nepal make sanitary towels that they distribute to poor women

Photo: Skanda Gautam / ZUMA Wire / imago images

Menstrual cups are still a niche product, but they are becoming increasingly popular as an inexpensive alternative to disposable products.

The silicone cups cost around 15 euros, but they last for several years.

The non-governmental organization "Golden Girls Foundation" has already distributed thousands of such cups to schoolgirls in Kenya.

Activists are also campaigning for VAT on tampons, sanitary towels and menstrual cups to be reduced.

In Germany, too, a tax rate of 19 percent was applied for a long time and not the reduced tax rate of seven percent.

The tax cut has been in place since the beginning of 2020 - however, many manufacturers responded with price increases.

Some countries are already distributing tampons and sanitary towels free of charge to schools or universities.

The French government is currently having vending machines with free period products set up at universities and in student union dormitories.

Last year, Scotland became the first country in the world to pass a law guaranteeing free access to menstrual supplies.

In future, they will have to be provided free of charge in public buildings.

In his speech on Independence Day in August 2020, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi reported on a program that would provide poor women with sanitary napkins for a symbolic price of one rupee each, the equivalent of one cent.

In social networks he was praised for breaking taboos: "It's huge - menstruation is a mainstream topic of conversation in conservative India," commented a Twitter user on Modi's speech.

Initiatives from sport and business are also fighting for more equality through sufficient hygiene products: a cricket team from India advertised sanitary towels on jerseys last year - and donated menstrual products to girls in need for every hit.

And an Indian delivery service caused a sensation with a »period vacation«: employees are allowed to take paid leave for up to ten days a year if they have severe menstrual pain.

The boss wants to dissolve the stigma surrounding the bleeding.

He wrote to his team: "You should be able to simply say in internal groups or e-mails that you are currently taking a day of period leave."

This contribution is part of the Global Society project

Expand areaWhat is the Global Society project?

Under the title Global Society, reporters from

Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe

report on injustices in a globalized world, socio-political challenges and sustainable development.

The reports, analyzes, photo series, videos and podcasts appear in the international section of SPIEGEL.

The project is long-term and will be supported for three years by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF).

A detailed FAQ with questions and answers about the project can be found here.

AreaWhat does the funding look like in concrete terms?

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) is supporting the project for three years with a total of around 2.3 million euros.

Are the journalistic content independent of the foundation?

Yes.

The editorial content is created without the influence of the Gates Foundation.

Do other media have similar projects?

Yes.

Big European media like "The Guardian" and "El País" have set up similar sections on their news sites with "Global Development" and "Planeta Futuro" with the support of the Gates Foundation.

Have there already been similar projects at SPIEGEL?

In recent years, SPIEGEL has already implemented two projects with the European Journalism Center (EJC) and the support of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: The "Expedition The Day After Tomorrow" on global sustainability goals and the journalistic refugee project "The New Arrivals", as part of this several award-winning multimedia reports on the topics of migration and flight have been produced.

Where can I find all publications on global society?

The pieces can be found at SPIEGEL on the topic Global Society.

Source: spiegel

All news articles on 2021-03-27

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