Need for awareness about another economic hardship, period poverty

A recent online campaign drew public attention to a poverty unique to women－period poverty. Sanitary products, which every woman needs during her period, actually pose great economic hardships on quite a few women in China.

Some people argue that a sanitary pad costs 2 yuan ($0.291) at most, and the total monthly expenditure could come to a dozen yuan, which is not a lot. However, for those who say so the price of sanitary products every month is equivalent to what they spend on a cup of coffee. And they overlook the actual income situation of a large number of people in China.

The average per capita disposable income of residents in some regions in Central and West China is still markedly lower than the national average, even if almost all the people there have been lifted above the poverty line. That means their spending power has not improved as much as the change in their economic condition indicates. For such impoverished women, sanitary products pose an additional economic burden.