PUTRAJAYA’S Budget 2022 initiative to provide free hygiene kits monthly to some 130,000 young women in the B40 category is a good start to addressing period poverty, several rights groups said.

The groups praised the government for acknowledging the seriousness of period poverty among lower-income households.

Aminah Rawther, a volunteer from Reproductive Rights Advocacy Alliance Malaysia, told The Malaysian Insight that this initiative was a positive step moving forward.

“However, the government must be committed to recognising ongoing and unburdened access to menstrual hygiene products as a basic human right for menstruating persons, including women prisoners, rather than only an aid distribution project,” she said.

She added that there would need to be greater accountability and transparency in all aspects of this aid distribution initiative.

The Finance Ministry had earlier announced that the National Population and Family Development Board, in cooperation with the Prison Department, will distribute personal hygiene kits for free every month to 130,000 teenage girls from B40 families under Budget 2022.

Aminah said the government must address where and how it receives the data and since female prisoners will be producing the pads, it must be made clear if they will be fairly compensated for their labour.

Meanwhile, All Women’s Action Society also commended the initiative.

A spokesman said this was the first time that a national budget has allocated funds for such an issue.

“We hope this initiative will be the first step leading to long-term intervention to address and prevent period poverty,” she said.

“It should be acknowledged that this free access can temporarily help reduce the occurrence of negative consequences of not having proper period management among young women in the B40 community such as school/work absenteeism and productivity as well as mental wellbeing,” she said.

She said Putrajaya must ensure effective implementation of the initiative, which involves ensuring the targeted community receiving kits that contain adequate amounts of sanitary products, with all objectives achieved, by the specified timeline.

“Look into having proper official data on period poverty. Currently, there are no official statistics on the prevalence of period poverty.

“Continuous absence of this data will make it challenging for the government and other stakeholders to identify the real at-risk communities.”

Awam hoped that with the start of this initiative, the government would also begin looking into systemic factors causing period poverty, such as low income and unemployment.

Iris Foo, programme director at Bulan Sisters, a reproductive rights group, said the initiative was a good start to alleviating the plight of those facing period poverty as well as to raise national awareness towards period poverty.

“We as a nation must definitely use this as a springboard to do more for the community,” she told The Malaysian Insight.

“For example, the government could look into making the feminine hygiene kits reusable for the long term, such as by providing cloth pads and menstrual cups; the production of which can possibly create jobs for single mothers like what Serum Initiative is doing,” she said.

“On that note, we hope that the government can ensure the accountability of the initiative for it to be properly implemented,” she said.

Other than that, she said material access to period products was just the start to tackling the problem of period poverty, adding that gender-neutral period education should also be taught in schools to prevent stigmatisation, such as preventing the shame of having periods.

“To this end, the government should partner with relevant civil society groups in expanding the resources available to tackle poverty, such as to organise educational workshops,” Foo added. – December 15, 2021.