Government urged to prioritise access to sanitary wear

By Alex Bell
08 December 2011

Zimbabwe’s male dominated government is being urged to stop sidelining women’s issues, including access to sanitary products, which has left the country’s women and girls facing serious health risks.

A group of young women last month presented a petition to Parliament urging the government to consider subsidising sanitary wear, while demanding that such products be distributed free in poor communities and in schools. The petition was presented ahead of the 2012 Budget presentation, and the Budget executive committee was asked to consider the demands as part of the country’s national expenditure.

The petition detailed how a critical lack of access to sanitary wear is having serious consequences for Zimbabwe’s young girls and women, who “continue to succumb to cervical cancer due the alternatives they use such as rags, newspapers, cow dung and tissues.”

“Reproductive tract infections have increased in young women and their reproductive health is being compromised,” the petition read.

The MDC-T’s Tabitha Khumalo, who has for years actively campaigned against this lack of access to sanitary wear in Zimbabwe, applauded the petition, but said: “It’s long overdue.”

“The reality is that the girl child is denied the use of hygienic products because their families can’t afford the costs and it’s not available to them in school. They are taught the old fashioned methods which is shameful in this day and age,” Khumalo said.

She added: “It’s such a simple thing, but its gives girls confidence to go to school, to stand up and participate, it gives them a sense of dignity. It needs to be taken more seriously.”

Khumalo compared the situation to a recent campaign to provide free condoms in an effort to combat the spread of HIV. She said that campaign was strongly supported: “People were running around and going out of their way to sort this out. Why? Its something that affected men and they are the decision makers,” Khumalo said.

She explained that the situation is made worse by the lack of women in decision making positions, adding that currently, issues affecting women end up being discussed by men.

“Men are the chief decision makers, but men don’t understand. They think when a woman is menstruating, it’s dirty,” Khumalo said.

Khumalo in 2006 spearheaded the ‘Dignity. Period!’ campaign, after fighting for years for the shortages of sanitary wear to be addressed by the then ZANU PF led government. The campaign resulted in sanitary products from well wishers outside Zimbabwe being sent to the country for distribution. But the government insisted that some R700 000 in duty be paid on the products when the first consignment arrived in the country.

The campaign has continued, but Khumalo said on Thursday that it is “slowly fading away.” She emphasised that now, more than ever, is the time for the government to step up and make a difference. But she warned this is not likely to happen yet.

“The 2012 Budget should have made room for towels and tampons to be made available in schools, and it should have included a plan to subsidise the products. But there is no room. None whatsoever,” Khumalo said.