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View all search resultsFrom rags to rejected pads, period poverty persists in Indonesia
Frustrated by existing regulations, law student Bernita Matondang, 26, has filed a judicial review at the Constitutional Court challenging the Tax Harmonization Law that governs value-added tax.
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A prospective buyer browses a shelf displaying sanitary pads from various brands on Nov. 7 at a supermarket in a mall along Jl. Jenderal Basuki Rachmat, East Jakarta. (JP/Iqro Rinaldi)
F
or millions of Indonesian women, menstruation comes with a monthly expense they cannot simply opt out of. Some stretch their supply of sanitary pads by wearing them for an entire day, while others turn to cut-up rags or cheap, repackaged products that may pose health risks.
Despite being a basic necessity, sanitary pads remain subject to 11 percent value-added tax (VAT) in the country, a policy that has recently drawn renewed scrutiny and reigniting criticism that the state is taxing a biological inevitability as though it were a luxury.
Adhieva Salysya, 23, encountered the less visible consequences of this burden last May, when she spearheaded an independent fundraising initiative to provide sanitary pads for vulnerable women in Jakarta.
As she researched the issue, she came across forums filled with accounts of women resorting to cut-up rags or buying "repack" pads, which are unhygienic, factory-rejected products sold cheaply on online marketplaces.
Her experience at the Legal Aid Institute of the Indonesian Women's Association for Justice (LBH APIK) also exposed her to the particularly precarious circumstances of students at religious boarding schools, where reproductive health remains a taboo subject.
"Due to a lack of funds, some students change their pads only once a day or attempt to wash and reuse single-use products," Adhieva told The Jakarta Post last week, warning that such practices expose them to serious risks of infection and bacterial growth.
Read also: Women take everyday battles to Jakarta streets
