Portugal may be closer to having affordable menstrual products. The PAN delivered, to Parliament, this Friday, a legislative package focused on women’s rights, with menstrual poverty as a central theme. The bill intends to “enshrine” the VAT exemption on menstrual hygiene products, putting an end to the well-known buffer tax.
The party evokes data that justify menstrual poverty in Portugal, a country where “1.8 million people live below the poverty line”. Although there are no studies regarding the rise in prices of sanitary pads and tampons, the PAN says that “in some countries” the prices have already risen by more than 8%.
The objective, explains the party in the bill, is to apply zero VAT to menstrual hygiene products, amending the Value Added Tax code, which would now include this topic. The sole deputy, Inês Sousa Real, argues that “feminine hygiene cannot be treated as a luxury”. Since 2022, these products are taxed at 6%, just like other hygienic or medicinal items.
It is unknown how much this measure that Inês Sousa Real aims to approve would cost the country. “Celebrating April is also about fulfilling women’s rights. Freedom and equality are part of the genesis of the 25th of April and we cannot forget that women make up more than half of the population and cannot continue to be systematically marginalized in various areas of the public, social and political sphere”, reinforces the person in charge.
Last year, the same party had proposed the creation of a pilot program for the free distribution of feminine personal hygiene products, which, for now, only happens in specific locations, such as in Almada, where the municipality distributes kits menstrual periods in the municipality’s schools. In France, these products are distributed free of charge to women under 25, as is the case in New Zealand.
Scotland had become the first country to distribute free tampons and sanitary pads in 2020. Here, the PAN managed to get the approval, in the State Budget for 2016, of reducing VAT on menstrual cups from 23% to 6% and insists that approving zero VAT would now be “an invaluable benefit for young women”.
The same legislative package delivered this Friday also includes a proposal for victims of domestic violence, including an increase in funding for Victim Support Offices or the creation of care environments for victims of domestic violence in all judicial districts in Portugal. Furthermore: PAN intends to create “a pension for orphans” following this crime.
Regarding sexual violence, the party explains in a statement that it intends to extend the deadline for the crime to be prescribed and create a “strategy to combat sexual and moral harassment in higher education institutions”.
“There is still a long way to go towards equality, particularly with regard to women’s rights, eradicating poverty and combating domestic violence”, concludes Inês Sousa Real. The data from Statistical Bulletin on Gender Equality 2022promoted by the Commission for Citizenship and Gender Equality, show that, on average, men earn €1104.49 in basic pay, while women receive €957.50, a difference of 13.3%.
Despite receiving less, women are not only harmed by buffer tax, a cost they incur for menstruating, as well as being more susceptible to other disparities. The so-called pink tax, motivated by price discrimination, occurs when similar products for men and women have different prices.
