In Ghana, the tax imposed on sanitary pads makes the product inaccessible to poor and vulnerable women and girls across the country.

The Ghana Revenue Authority classifies sanitary pads as luxury items and attracts a 20% import tax levy. This is an outdated and outrageous tax on women.

Indirect tax regimes depend on classification, thus: “essential” goods and “luxuries”. Things that are considered necessities, for example, condoms and toilet paper, are not taxed.

We are concerned about the health, socio-economic, and psychological impact of this problem on the lives of women and girls particularly in rural communities.

Therefore, we as a social movement #Bleedwithdignity are calling on the government to treat sanitary products as health necessities and not as luxuries and to remove the tax placed on them.

We hold the firm opinion that actions on scrapping 20 % import tax on sanitary pads will help eliminate school absenteeism associated with the inability to afford sanitary pads among school girls.

The allocation of funding for public education and information on the nature of menstruation and its role in female health and fertility and reproduction of humanity.

The Government of Ghana presently charges a luxury tax of 20 % and an additional 12.5 % VAT on sanitary pads.

The fact that this tax is directly targeted at females for a natural occurrence in their reproductive process which they have no choice or control over makes the tax highly unjust and immoral.

Finally, the taxes on sanitary pads have made the product very expensive and inaccessible to many low – income households who must choose between the pads and competing needs.

Therefore, as part of the campaign we submitted a petition to the Parliament of the Republic of Ghana as a representative interest of many school – going girls across the country.

Conveners:

Dennis Agyei Boateng
Gavin Dionne Slash
Da-Costa Nana Yaw Adu
Mumuni Dora
Toridza Maxwell Komla
Mariwa Yunus
Gibil Abdul Rahman
Maame Araba Mensah – Attah
Sekyere Osei Owusu Richard