A local women rights activist Nyaradzo Mashayamombe has described the government’s tax exemption move on menstrual products as ‘not enough’ to eliminate period poverty in the country.
Mashayamombe noted that menstrual products remain inaccessible to many especially those in rural areas.
Speaking during the launch of Action Aid Zimbabwe’s report titled Tax and Menstrual Hygiene organized by Action Aid, Mashayamombe said there are other factors that are inhibiting the elimination of period poverty.
“While the initiatives are good, they are married with lack of monitory and regulation such as in Zimbabwe to see whether prices are going down for the women and girls, ending up benefiting businesses not the intended end users,” she said.
Mashayamombe highlighted that hyperinflation and the multi-currency regime in the country also make it difficult to monitor the effect of the removal of taxes on menstrual health products.
“Ignorance by citizens to engage in demanding accountability by wholesalers or retailers also has been evident in most African countries including Zimbabwe. Failure to release funds has nullified the impact of free distribution of sanitary products in schools in Zimbabwe,” she added.
Mashayamombe said there is a need to consider alternative policy tools for making products more affordable and accessible for the poor, hard-to-reach population, thus simply addressing period poverty.
“Initiatives mentioned such as free menstrual product distribution in schools, for the hard to reach, impoverished rural, peri-urban and urban areas in schools, community health centers and in workplaces the way condoms have been made freely available in beerhalls, or creating incentives for companies along the supply chain can see the impact required achieved,” she added.
According to AAZ, tax exemption is a significant first step but highlighted that more tools are needed to make it work such as regulations on the retailers, periodic monitoring, enforcement, collaborations, creating a conducive environment for players, and accountability mechanisms.
Speaking at the same event, ZINASU Gender secretary, Aulyn Makoni said young female students are now forced to choose between bread and sanitary wear because it is not affordable.
“Young women and girls are forced to use cow dung, tearing old blankets to use as sanitary wear because it’s expensive,” said Makoni.
Government has set aside ZWL$1.5 Billion from the 2023 national budget to go towards providing free sanitary wear in public schools.
