Media Release:
Keeping Girls in School, One Pad at a Time

13 June 2009, by Elizabeth Scharpf

Enabling girls to attend school regularly is a major objective of the US-based organization, Sustainable Health Enterprises (SHE), according to founder Elizabeth Scharpf.

“The lack of access to health and hygiene education and low-cost sanitary pads is a global, urgent problem that is keeping girls and women out of school and work which ultimately, has a significant cost to the economy as a whole.” Ms Scharpf said.

She was speaking at a meeting hosted by Professor Shirley Randell, Convener of International Relations of the Rwanda Association of University Women (RAUW) which is a pillar of Rwandan civil society, aiming to ensure girls and women achieve the highest levels of education.

RAUW was especially keen to meet SHE due to the significant survey they conducted between June and August of 2008. SHE surveyed over 500 girls and women on the issues surrounding menstruation. Their qualitative and quantitative assessment was astounding. According to their random survey, when girls are menstruating, half of them are absent from school. The leading cause of their absence is that sanitary pads are too expensive. This leads us to ask, “What drives these costs?”

There are three main drivers of sanitary pad prices: distribution, raw materials, and taxes. While distribution and raw material costs are obstacles in many other countries, Rwanda is one of the few East African countries that continues to levy a Value Added Tax on sanitary pads. In 2009, the rate is 18%. While the VAT contributes to the tax coffers of Rwanda, the high prices of sanitary pads causes girls to miss school, ultimately hindering their ability to gain additional skills, earn higher wages, and contribute incrementally higher tax contributions to national coffers later in life.

Acting President, Odette Mukazi Mutanguha, said that RAUW and SHE are planning to partner on mitigating the obstacles of sanitary pad prices so that girls and women no longer have to miss school and work. “We invite others to join the debate and efforts to alleviate an obstacle to girls’ education and women’s professional achievement” Ms Mutanguha said.

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