A woman’s body shouldn’t be treated as fair game to tax. Menstrual bleeding is not a voluntary act,  neither is it a luxury. All women on an average menstruate from the ages of 12 to 51. Despite it being the biological and hygienic requisite of more than half the population, current legislation systematically discriminates against women by taxing basic commodities such as sanitary napkins.

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On an average, a woman spends approximately 65 days menstruating ever year. Only 12 per cent of India’s 355 million women use sanitary napkins. Over 88 per cent of women resort to cloth, ashes and husk sand. Incidents of Reproductive Tract Infection (RTI) are 70 per cent more common among these women. Taxing sanitary napkins creates economic obstacles for women from getting easy access to them: a commodity that is not optional, but a hygienic requirement.

Thus, we are economically forcing a majority of our women population to use unsafe alternatives such as ash, instead of safe and recommended products. By taxing these basic commodities, and putting them in the ‘luxury’ category, we are discouraging an improved standard of life and encouraging discrimination based on sex. This is unacceptable given that the right to sanitation and healthy life is a fundamentally guaranteed right under the Constitution of India.

Beyond affordability, Articles 14, 15, 21, and 47 of The Constitution Of India, guarantees Equality before the Law, Prohibits Discrimination based on Sex and Propagates States to exercise their Right to Improve the Standard of Living of its Citizens’.

Currently sanitary napkins are taxed up to 14.5 per cent, based on the state you are living in. Even with the proposed GST, sanitary napkins are scheduled to be taxed at 12 per cent. We cannot, as a country, talk about wanting to fight for gender equality if we fail to identify how certain policies targetted specifically at the female populate, adversely affect them.

SheSays, an NGO that addresses women’s rights in India, has tied up with Global Citizen India, to petition for sanitary napkins to be tax-free. Condoms and contraceptives are tax-free in India, just as they should be, as they are recognised as a necessity to safeguard health and life. Can we not then view sanitary napkins through the same lens? Women should not be taxed on virtue of a natural bodily process that we have no control over.

Trisha Shetty is a lawyer and social activist