Jang Hye-young “70,000 ‘menstrual poverty’… Full support for women’s and youth’s menstrual products”

Jang Hye-young, a member of the Justice Party, promotes the ‘Comprehensive Support Act for Female Youth Menstrual Products’. This is to prevent so-called ‘menstrual poverty’ situations in which female adolescents are not guaranteed the right to safe menstruation, such as the case of ‘insole sanitary pads’ where they use toilet paper or insoles as sanitary pads due to lack of money.

Rep. Chang held a press conference at the Communication Hall of the National Assembly on the 26th, ahead of the ‘5.28 World Menstruation Day’ and announced that the state and local governments would propose and promote the ‘Amendment to the Youth Welfare Support Act’, which includes the support of sanitary products to all teenagers.

According to Rep. Chang, with the revision of the Youth Welfare Act in 2021, the basis for supporting youth sanitary products is prepared, and the ‘sanitary napkin voucher’ project is being carried out by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family. However, out of 243,000 low-income youth eligible for support, only 173,000 actually applied, and 70,000 are still in the ‘blind spot’. In addition, in addition to the government voucher project, the support policies for sanitary products implemented by each local government vary greatly in the level of support.

In response, Rep. Chang proposes the ‘Complete Support Act for Youth Sanitary Products’ (a partial amendment to Article 5 of the Youth Welfare Support Act) to legally guarantee the right to cross borders. The bill stipulates the obligation of the state and local governments to provide menstrual products to all female adolescents without conditions.

It also states that “the state’s support should not be in a way that causes inconvenience and shame to the parties concerned. Support should be easy, provided in sufficient quantities for health and safety, and have a choice of various types of sanitary products. It must be guaranteed.”

 

Rep. Jang said, “In 2021, we have already proposed a tax law amendment to stabilize the price of sanitary products by applying a zero tax rate to domestic sanitary products and exempting value-added tax on imported products.” Given that the government has no will to resolve this issue in terms of tax policy, it is time to realize full-scale support for sanitary products through bolder financial projects,” he emphasized. In fact, when looking at the price index by item by the National Statistical Office, the price of sanitary napkins rose 16.1% compared to 2020, far exceeding the inflation rate of all items.

He said, “Last year, in Scotland, universal support for menstrual products for all women was legislated, making a notable achievement.” We need to come forward as soon as possible and fill the blind spots together. The ‘Complete Support Act for Youth Sanitary Products’ that I am proposing today will be the beginning of such concrete efforts,” he emphasized.

He then asked fellow lawmakers to join the initiative, saying, “I ask many fellow lawmakers to join us in the ‘Complete Support Act for Teenage Menstrual Products’ that protects the health and dignity of female adolescents.”

Rep. Jang said in an explanation of the bill, “Even if only a small part of the 70 trillion won tax cut for Yoon Seok-yeol for five years is withdrawn (250 billion to 500 billion won annually), female and adolescent households that spend more than 200,000 won a year on sanitary products. It can greatly alleviate the burden on the public,” he said.

Furthermore, regarding the reason for universal support rather than screening, he said, “The right to cross border is a woman’s right to be guaranteed universally, so there is no reason to classify it according to income.” Therefore, there is no reason to cause discomfort, shame or class separation.”