The price of periods

Happy Menstrual Hygiene Day!

To "celebrate", we're talking taxes and have created a calculator to work out how much your period is costing you. But first, a quick intro to Menstrual Hygiene Day.

Around the world, the 28th of May is the day we shout loudly and in unison about the need for a period-friendly world. That's a world in which periods are no longer stigmatised or taboo. A world where no young person thinks they are dying when they get their first period because they've never been told about menstruation. A world where everyone has access to their choice of quality and affordable period products. A world where menstrual health services are available to everyone. A world where no one is held back just because they menstruate.

We've been shouting for a while now; Menstrual Hygiene Day was started by the German NGO ‘WASH United’ back in 2013. Why the 28th of May? Because the average menstrual cycle is 28 days and the average time someone spends bleeding each cycle is 5 days.

This Menstrual Hygiene Day, we want to shout about the period tax. Like many places around the world, here in Aotearoa New Zealand, period products are subject to a sales tax. In NZ, that tax is called GST and the rate is 15%. Kenya was the first country to remove the tax on period products more than 20 years ago! Others have since followed their lead, including Australia, Canada, Colombia, the UK, Rwanda, and most recently the Solomon Islands.

Want to work out how much your period has cost you and how much tax you've paid? Check out our calculator below. Feel free to share your results! You'll need to know how many periods you've had, so use our other calculator to get that number.

We believe that period products should be free for all who need them. But a simple first step would be to remove sales taxes like GST, and make these essential items just that little bit more affordable.