The Real Struggle Behind Menstrual Products

  The average woman is predicted to spend about $6,360 on period products from the age of 12 to 52. The nonprofit organization Period Equity filed a lawsuit on Aug. 11, 2020 regarding Michigan’s six percent tax on menstrual products. Michigan is 1 of the 30 states that still have tax on period products. The group is not only asking for the tax on period products to be removed but also for the state to issue refunds totaling about $25 million to women who were impacted by tax on period products in a four year period. Period products are essential items for women, low income women should have to struggle buying products that are essential for her health.

  Finally, after years of fighting, Governor Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan recently signed the second bill to drop the six percent tax on all menstrual products. The bill will go into action 90 days after being signed, meaning it will become effective in early February. Since the second bill was signed, activists are now working on making period products free in places like schools, jails, and shelters. They picked these places because there are a lot of young women and low income women staying there. No woman should have to worry about not being able to take care of their period because of the price tags connected to the items they need. A woman does not choose to have a period, it is a natural biological process and it needs to start being looked at like one. There is a lot of stigma around periods and although we are on the right track to fix it, it should have never been there in the first place.