Reporter
carisa.lee@cnc3.co.tt
While conversations about gender equality and health rights remain in the spotlight of national discourse, the inability of many to afford basic menstrual products is often relegated to the shadows. Despite its impact on health, education, and workplace participation, what is known as period poverty remains an invisible crisis, often overshadowed by more traditional healthcare issues.
Period poverty is defined as the inability to afford and access menstrual products, sanitation and hygiene facilities, and education and awareness to manage menstrual health. Several surveys have shown that more than 50 per cent of women are affected by period poverty in this country.
A 2023 Guardian newspaper report on period poverty revealed that in rural areas and even in the capital of Port-of-Spain, schools faced challenges with their plumbing because many girls did not have access to feminine products and were using cloth for sanitary napkins, resulting in clogged systems.
A Joint Select Committee (JSC) on Human Rights, Equality, and Diversity survey conducted on 1,930 members of the public in 2023 found that 93.4 per cent of respondents did not believe that period products were affordable.
Similarly, in 2021 the Safe Cycle report by Feminitt Caribbean stated that 51.5 per cent of respondents found period products were not affordable, 39.9 per cent found them sort of affordable, and only 8.6 per cent agreed that they were affordable.
To assist with the challenges, the Gender and Child Affairs Ministry distributed Dignity Kits—packages of sanitary and hygiene products that include basic items such as toothpaste, toothbrushes, body soap, underwear for women and girls, a flashlight, and reusable and disposable sanitary napkins.
Team leader of Is There Not a Cause (ITNAC) Avonelle Hector Joseph said she has seen the effects of period poverty throughout her 20-plus years of activism, in areas from Diego Martin to Palo Seco.
“We have a poverty problem in Trinidad, many of us for the sake of political expediency, we are in denial... we know what we see...A lot of people wear cloth. A girl called me one day and she said she didn’t have a choice she had to use her baby’s diaper,” Hector Joseph said.
She explained that just this year a woman called an NGO for help to purchase period products.
Head of Crown Her TT, Dr Nadira Rambocas, who also surveyed 504 women between the ages of 18 and 48 said that 55 per cent indicated they had to borrow or change their current brand of period products. She said 51 per cent revealed they had to improvise.
“Some of these women interviewed use rags, toilet paper, hand towels or cloth and pins,” she said.
The study also highlighted other issues that women faced during their periods such as high costs of medication and medical visits as well as loss of daily functioning and absenteeism from work and schools. Many women also reported that their workplaces and schools did not provide them with sanitary products.
Diptee: Women sacrificing their needs
Guardian Media checked the price of period products on the shelves of supermarkets and pharmacies and the average cost of 36 sanitary napkins was approximately $60 for one brand.
Tampons were priced at between $24 and $47 on average.
President of the Supermarket Association of Trinidad and Tobago (SATT) Rajiv Diptee said that as the cost of living increases, women may find themselves sacrificing their needs.
“We found that that cost which could be a few hundred dollars each month depending on the particular need of a woman, is marginalised,” he explained.
Diptee said while SATT does not determine the cost of feminine products, his association has held discussions with various distributors including Smith Robertson & Company Limited, AMCO (Alstons Marketing Co Ltd), and private label distributors but said many women still prefer brand name products for their menstrual health.
“From an industry standpoint, I think it’s imperative that the Government budgets for this as an annual item, that there need to be provisions for in recognising that this is the health, that a woman’s menstrual cycle is part of her health,” he added.
Ministry working to eliminate the issue
Responding to questions from Guardian Media, the Gender and Child Affairs Ministry said it had commenced inter-agency and inter-sectoral discussions on this issue which will be accelerated to determine the best arrangement to address period poverty.
The ministry said these included developing a relevant policy, ramping up public sensitisation, providing menstrual products at reduced costs to all girls and women, and ensuring safe and hygienic spaces for girls and women to comfortably experience their menstrual cycle.
The ministry reiterated that the Government’s policy on gender and development was to promote equitable access for both men and women to appropriate, affordable, and quality health care, information and related services throughout their life cycle.
Minister responsible for Gender and Child Affairs, Ayanna Webster-Roy, has also begun discussions with both Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley and Finance Minister Colm Imbert on reducing the cost of feminine products in this country. She has also approached Minister of Education Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly about making feminine hygiene products available in schools for use by girls.