We, the Ghanaian Youth Task Team of the Africa Youth Partnership for an Equitable Recovery from the Global COVID-19 Pandemic dedicated to advocating an equitable recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, petition the Government of Ghana through its various executive and legislative bodies to reduce or scrap the 20% luxury tax on menstrual products for the following reasons:
1. Menstruation is not a luxury but a basic natural occurrence ascribed to females within the natural age that permits the process.
2. The luxury tax on menstrual products exists in spite of a 12.5% Value Added Tax.
3. The current economic state of Ghana post-the-COVID-19 pandemic makes menstrual products less affordable for the vast majority of consumers.
4. Menstrual products in the form of sanitary pads and tampons within the designated tax region are designed in commensuration to health and sanitary considerations. In effect, the aforementioned menstrual products are safer to use than older methods and must be safeguarded to reduce poor menstrual hygiene and menstrual-related-infections.
5. The menstrual product tax exacerbates period poverty and negatively impacts the quality of life of women by decreasing the accessibility of menstrual products.
6. Without menstrual products, young girls and women may be embarrassed, thereby lacking the needed confidence to effectively function in society.
7. Period poverty may negatively affect the economic and educational opportunities of girls and women involved.
8. The difficulty in affording menstrual products may be a luring abode of teenage pregnancy and rape where young girls are vulnerable to dangerous coping mechanisms.
We demand that the 20% luxury tax on menstrual products be reduced or scrapped before the end of December, 2022. We call on you to make a difference by joining in our petition to #EndPeriodPoverty now.
