The Pink Tax

Periods suck.

Physical pain, emotional drainage, and just overall crap. An array of females every day have to deal with school, life, and oh — the period tax.

Well, technically, it’s known as the Pink Tax or the Tampon Tax, but period tax works just fine. It’s a tax placed by our generous government on feminine products ranging from tampons and pads all the way to underwear/

I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m totally psyched to pay more during Shark Week.

Women are already paid less, and now, we have to pay more.

There are tons of girls, even in the US, who can’t afford basic feminine products. Some girls have to stay home from school because of their period — they simply can’t afford it this month.

This doesn’t just affect the teenage girl demographic. I watched a video the other day about how homeless women deal with their periods on a daily basis. They’ve been limited to using old fabric as makeshift pads or tampons from toilet paper.

Okay, so menstrual products are some sort of luxury item?

And it burns me that people close to me had once had to use these materials. Strong, powerful women, who had to risk missing major exams or interviews simply because they weren’t able to afford basic necessities.

So adding a tax on top of that? Women already pay 42% more on average for their products compared to men. Seriously.

Getting your period for the average girl isn’t exactly a luxury. And having access to pads, tampons, or any other hygiene products shouldn’t be considered a luxury either. Pads and tampons are expensive as hell these days.

And I’m not OVARYacting.

The average woman has her period for around 6.25 years of her life and will spend an average of around $18,171 on feminine products. That’s $3,000 over the annual minimum wage salary this year.

But I can’t be more glad to say that on November 6, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine signed a bill, known as SB 26, ending the tax on feminine hygiene products. This will save customers in Ohio around $4 million.

Exempting my pessimistic tendencies, we are making progress here in the Buckeye State. Regardless of political association, members of both parties were able to unify and create a bill towards a common cause that will benefit the women of Ohio. Feels great not to be treated as a political issue.

Democratic State Rep. Brigid Kelly and Republican State Rep. Niraj Antani were able to come together and propose a bill that would end the sales tax. Repealing the tax has helped create feminine products in Ohio become more affordable along with helping girls feel more comfortable expressing their voice in a male-dominated government. We must be able to create an environment where everybody can speak out whether it’s against a rule, another person, or a whole body of people.

But Ohio, even though I’m happy for you, we still got things to discuss and fix. After all, this whole period thing is really cramping my style.