Youth activists press their government to ease period poverty by lifting the “pink tax.”
“Menstrual products should be a way to support girls, not a source of income generation for the government.” Harriet Setsoafia, an alumni network coordinator for Plan International Ghana, works closely with young people and spent a year collaborating with youth activists to make this argument heard in the rooms where decisions are made.
Without access to these products, many women simply have to stay home whenever they have their periods. “You may have to miss class and be in bed the whole day, just so you don’t have to go and buy a sanitary pad,” says college student Shirley Awudu Amankwah, 21, a youth advocate and participant in Plan International’s Youth Advocacy and Leadership project. “You do this until your period is over.” [See how this is about to change].
Those missed days of school or work make it harder for girls to succeed in class and translate to lost earnings for women. Plus, without pads or tampons, women resort to using substitutes like paper or old rags, which increases health risks such as reproductive and urinary tract infections.
Sanitary pads and tampons in Ghana are taxed at a shocking 35% (20% import tax plus 15% value added tax [VAT]).
A recent study showed that a
woman earning a minimum wage in Ghana needs to spend 13.2% of her monthly income to buy supplies for
just one menstrual cycle.
Amankwah has been involved with Plan’s girls’ clubs, which advocate to meet girls’ menstrual health needs, since she was in junior high school. “We’ve been advocating for the removal of taxes on sanitary pads for no less than four years,” she said. “It looked like there was no end to it.”
But in 2023, Amankwah finally saw hard-won change on this issue. Through the Youth Advocacy and Leadership project, she and her peers engaged directly with decision makers and pressed them to address this issue. They took advantage of the global spotlight that would be shone on young people’s needs at the upcoming Global Forum for Adolescents, which took place on October 11, 2023.
Amankwah and the other youth advocates argued that ignoring the menstrual health needs of women and girls jeopardizes progress toward the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals committed to ending poverty, ensuring good health and well-being, promoting education and achieving gender equality. Their points were convincing enough to persuade a member of parliament to draft a private member bill, and the speaker of parliament publicly committed to championing their cause.
On the eve of the Global Forum, the Ministry of Health signed a list of key commitments, including a commitment to scrap the taxes on menstrual health products – a momentous win. “Having this commitment gives us something tangible to hold onto, to be able to say that yes, indeed, we are being heard,” says Amankwah.
Youth activists take centre stage
On the eve of the Global Forum for Adolescents, youth activists in Ghana celebrated a series of victories. Months of campaigning had persuaded the government to commit to new funding, policies and programs to support youth well-being. It agreed to increase funding for the Ministry of Health – and, by extension, for adolescent health programs – eliminate taxes on menstrual products and collaborate with young people to develop a national policy on youth well-being.
“It’s very important that young people are aware of the government’s commitments,” says Amankwah, 21, a youth advocate and participant in the project. “Once they know what is going on, they’ll be able to ask more questions. Then we can speak about accountability.”
For Harriet Setsoafia, who led the Youth Advocacy and Leadership project in Ghana, securing these pledges marks the beginning of the real work. “If we don’t empower young people to demand accountability for these commitments, we’ll be back to square one every time,” she explains.
That’s why the project focused on supporting youth participants in gaining knowledge and understanding of the advocacy process and building their skills in engaging with policy makers. Young people had an opportunity to develop policy and budget proposals, dialogue with ministry officials, and organize and speak at large-scale campaign events. “These same young people are now educating others so they can advocate for themselves.”
With the government’s signed commitment in hand, youth participants launched an awareness-raising campaign, visiting senior high schools across central and eastern Ghana. Their goal was to share information about the new commitments to youth well-being and gather students’ insights on how to monitor progress and ensure that the government delivers on its promises.
This was clear in the questions youth asked about the promise to remove taxes on menstrual products. If the government chose to control the price of menstrual products so that they cost the same from every retailer, the youth questioned how shopkeepers in rural areas would learn about and incorporate this change. They knew from experience that promises made by officials in urban centers often get diluted by the time they reach rural communities.
These are the kinds of critical insights that youth brought to the discussion and that would take centre stage in the next part of the project: the National Forum for Adolescents. The event, held in Accra in April 2024, brought together 130 young people, including students from 15 senior high schools that had been part of the awareness-raising campaign. They joined representatives from the Ministries of Health, Education and Gender, Children and Social Protection as well as several UN agencies.
Students came prepared to share their ideas for accountability mechanisms to ensure that government commitments translate into concrete action. As a starting point, these ideas included conducting regular reviews of policies focused on comprehensive health services and rights to ensure they align with the needs of adolescents; equipping young people to lead change in their own communities by providing resources to youth-led organizations; and using social media to promote leadership opportunities, health and well-being for teens.
"It’s been memorable and inspiring to talk with these young people,” says Amankwah. She is especially moved when young girls approach her to learn more about how they can become advocates for the issues that affect them and their peers. “This is what keeps me going. It tells me that we are actually making progress.”
We held a series of sessions to review existing national and global commitments, identify the gaps between policy and practice, and draft recommendations for government action to advance adolescent well-being.
Youth participants in the Youth Advocacy and Leadership project visited senior high schools in Ghana’s eastern and central regions to raise awareness among students of the government’s commitments and support them in demanding accountability.
We organized a National Forum for Adolescents in Accra, Ghana’s capital city. The event brought young people together with decision makers to discuss ways to hold the government accountable to their newly signed commitments to adolescent well-being.
» Read the full commitment statement
This project was delivered with funding from Fondation Botnar and in partnership with PMNCH.
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