Media mention on Reuters of Advocata on taxes on sanitary napkins

Thomson-Reuters Foundation mentioned Advocata in a recent article on period poverty and sanitary napkin affordability, published on April 04, 2019.

An excerpt from the article:

“Should a country tax women on something they have no control over? As the world celebrates International Women’s Day, in Sri Lanka women’s health as well as education is in jeopardy due to high taxes on women’s sanitary products, say activists.

“Period poverty has hit global headlines in recent years, with statistics showing that even in a wealthy Western country like Britain, one in 10 girls have been unable to afford sanitary products. …In Sri Lanka, the problem is particularly acute because sanitary products are so heavily taxed – until last September, the levy on imported pads was more than 100 percent. It has since been reduced to about 63 percent and Sri Lanka’s finance minister, Mangala Samaraweera, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation he was looking into how taxes on sanitary products could be reduced further.

But Anuki Premachandra, head of research communication at The Advocata Institute, an independent policy think tank, said the issue still wasn’t being given the importance it deserved. “People are enraged about the cost of carrots, but when it comes to taxes on sanitary napkins, they dismiss it as a women’s issue,” she said.”