“Tampon Tax” helps – expensive days: why menstruation is often still luxurious

The rule with the rule is a real gold well: according to Statista, global sale with women’s hygiene products amounted to around 43.8 billion euros in 2023 and is expected to rise to an estimated 58.59 billion euros in 2029. Who is surprised? After all, about half of the world’s population depends on the corresponding hygiene products in their lives, the economists Klara Kinnl and Ulrich Wohak from Vienna University of Economic Affairs.

Binding, tampons, menstrual penalty, period underwear and Co. Are not only important for health, but also essential to be able to participate in public life, even during the rule.

But this is not yet possible for all girls and women around the world: “Estimated 500 million menstruation has no access to period products”, the trained archaeologist and social anthropologist Ines Kohl, director of the Austrian NGO “The Rain Workers”: “One of the 1000 girls worldwide even has a break from school.”

What has brought the tax reduction of Austria
But not only abroad, but also within the EU, access to knowledge and education about the female cycle and hygiene products is often not sufficient. That is why various European countries have reduced sales tax on period products in recent years – including Austria: since 2021 we have been ten instead of 20 percent on deposits, etc.

The tax reduction actually brought something to consumers: it led to lower prices – however: “Access to period products only improved minimally,” says the study from 2023.

The two researchers analyzed the situation based on Austria, Germany, Belgium and France. Result: Depending on the country, prices fell by ten to 14 percent, depending on the country – which corresponds to a complete transfer of the reduction of consumers.

Cheaper, but not noticeable
In this country it was on average ten percent. Broke out to the individual purchase, this should not be felt for the Austrians: if a pack of tampons cost five euros at the end of 2020, it was cheaper at the end of 2021 – inflation was not included.

But there was a change in buying behavior: “Households in the low -income range bought more period products after the tax reduction,” says: “So the measure apparently worked for the people for whom it was intended.” Moreover, after reducing load, brand products or items with so -called better quality, were used.

Why is no longer bought?
In general, the sale of period products in the countries investigated remained about the same – no surprise for the researchers. “Binding, tampons, etc. are products that you buy the amount you need, regardless of the price,” KinNL explains, “for example with toilet paper or handkerchiefs, hardly anyone would get the idea to consume more because they are cheaper.”

The study therefore shows that the tax reduction is actually important for consumers. Nevertheless: In order to improve access to hygiene products for people with a low income, “more targeted measures are needed,” KinNL explains – such as more educational work and the distribution of period products in schools.

Why women in other countries meet several times
The Austrian NGO “The Rain Workers” is also convinced of this – even if it works abroad. Especially in poorer parts of the world, it affects girls and women several times, not just a lack of periodic products.

For example, a large proportion of girls and women in countries such as Niger, Kenya or Uganda have no access to sufficient clean water and medical care – which can end up for every catastrophic.

“Many women in our operational countries often do not even know what changes in their bodies for a month or life,” reports Kohl, who is also a former travel guide for ÖAW researcher and Africa.

But this is also the basis for the fact that women can form their own lives and take it: “that they determine themselves and planned themselves and decide for themselves whether they want to have children,” Kohl explains, “because a woman is always full and does not have to define by marriage or children.”

How a “baby chain” helps in Africa
The knowledge also helps to protect yourself against violence; Moreover, family planning also contributes to the fight against poverty. That is why the organization in the countries of West, East and South Africa is the so-called rain worker, which transmits sexual education directly into its communities and in their local language.

For example with the “baby chain”: it illustrates the female cycle based on 30 different colored pearls.