UNITED KINGDOM
‘Period Poverty’
Scotland became the first country in the world to make feminine sanitary products available for free to help girls and women struggling during the pandemic, Politico reported Wednesday.
Under the new law, known as the Period Products (Free Provision) (Scotland) Act, passed late Tuesday, local authorities and educational institutions must ensure free access to tampons, sanitary napkins and other products.
Scottish Labour lawmaker Monica Lennon, who introduced the bill in April 2019, said that menstruation should “never be a barrier to education or push anyone into poverty.”
According to a study in May by NGO Plan International UK, about 30 percent of girls between the age of 14 to 21 have struggled to access sanitary products during the lockdowns in the United Kingdom.
While Scotland is the first jurisdiction in the world to make feminine hygiene products free, some countries have banned the “tampon tax” – the value-added tax imposed on sanitary products.
In Europe, Ireland is the only country with no tampon tax. Hungary imposes a 27 percent tax rate on tampons, the highest in the bloc.
No comments:
Post a Comment