sanitary pad or gold?
Yes, because why are they so expensive. If I had a choice, I would gladly skip on bleeding and the whole drama that comes with menstruations. so, imagine having to navigate periods and having to think of the price of sanitary pads or sanitary products at the same time. It is wild I promise. I mean, I am even one of the lucky ones that have my periods for 3–5 days and have heavy flows on rare occasions, but now imagine someone that has their period for more days and then heavy flow.
I am sad, angry and disturbed. I recently found out that Scotland has made sanitary products free, and I did not know what to feel. I am happy for them that is for sure, so happy that I had a copy of the news printed and glued to my wall, but when will it be Nigeria or Africa.
I will not go into the details, I will not bore you with the figures and tell you the number of females that cannot afford period care, and by that, I mean as little as sanitary pads. I will not tell you how many women have been affected by this because they use unhygienic products or tell you how many girls miss school because they cannot afford sanitary pads.
Are reusable pads an option? Maybe for people that have access to enough water, yes, but what happens to the ones that do not have access to clean water or even water at all. Now that is the problem I have with reusable pads, it seems like a good idea, until you see that this will also only make sense to the middle class or rich female.
What do we do? In all honesty, I cannot seem to answer this question. I want to make life better for the girl child, menstruation is already a chore if we’re being honest, but being plagued with the prices of sanitary products makes it much worse. I work but you do not want to know how I have to mentally prepare to add sanitary products to my monthly budget. I can afford it, but it is still really annoying and tiring. And does it get better? No, there is a constant increase, and I don’t seem to understand why? In all honesty, there is only so much all these NGOs can do.
Although it feels like a constant back and forth when it comes to period poverty. I still believe that there will be a breakthrough for me, for all of us in this fight. When will that be? I don’t know. How will it happen? I have no answer to that too, but light will come. Girls will bleed and not have to worry about sanitary products irrespective of social stratification.
NB: I spoke more about sanitary pads because it’s my most preferred choice of sanitary product. It’s also what most people I know prefer to use.
Now there is a lot to say about period poverty,but I chose to talk about this because it has been plaguing me for a long while, I am also thinking of doing a series on this topic but my lazy self is still looking into it. Also, I am looking for ways to make these products less expensive or absolutely free. God knows that I keep writing and I do not know how to go about it, but I still believe, light will come.
If you have ideas or if you know people I can talk to, please send me an email: folahanomotayo@gmail.com. I will really appreciate it.
