Would you call sanitary items a “luxury”?
Last week, the UK government voted against removing the VAT (value added tax) on tampons and sanitary items, at a vote of 305 to 287. These items were classed under “luxury goods”, and were thus taxed at a rate of 5%. British MP Stella Creasy pointed out, in an amusing video, that the male MPs in Parliament were unable to even say the word ‘tampon.’
Many people have pointed out that the savings of the tampon tax will be minimal, and even though this may be true, the principle of the argument is that items such as caravans, exotic meats, and jaffa cakes (a popular British cake) are all deemed to be ‘essential items’, while tampons are classed as a ‘luxury’. As well as this, men’s hygiene products such as razors are also deemed essentials. A blog called Luxuriously Taxable has brought light to the ridiculousness of the categorization with comparison charts, images, and videos of tampons to actual luxury items.
This comes as the latest news in a long stream of controversial governmental decisions over women’s health issues. A prominent topic in the United States is the decision to defund Planned Parenthood, a resource that is primarily used for the maintenance and innovation of safe medical procedures for women’s health. The controversy lies in pro-religious movements that say Planned Parenthood is encouraging abortions, when in fact only 3% of their operations go towards abortion procedures.
If the government truly was a representation of the society that they are deciding for, the issues presented would be fairly and honestly debated. However, in Britain, there are 191 female MPs in Parliament, out of a total of 650. In the US Congress, there are 362 men and 76 women, and in the Senate, there are 17 women and 83 men. The large disparity in women’s representation is inherently problematic predominantly because the majority of the government’s members are debating about issues that will never affect them.
How is this fair?
Since 2004, women in Canada have been campaigning to have the GST removed from tampons, and in July of this year, the motion passed in Parliament to remove all GST from tampon sales. In addition, new Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made world headlines when he elected Canada’s first ever gender equal cabinet. Why? “Because it’s 2015,” he says.
Historically, governments with more female representation have made more progress regarding education, labour, and social equality, including maternity leave and education benefits. In Sweden, the government is 43% women, and they have some of the highest employment in Europe for women. Since the United Kingdom and the United States are countries with so much worldly influence, isn’t it right that gender equality in government be a priority? Perhaps these governments could be an example of the 37 countries that don’t have any women in government.