In crisis-hit Sri Lanka, period poverty means deciding between menstrual pads or food

The cost of living has skyrocketed amid the economic crisis, driving some women to save money by turning to unhygienic practices such as fashioning old clothes into pads

The inability to afford proper menstrual items also forces girls to stay at home for days each month – a disruption which could stymie their potential, experts say

Reading Time:4 minutes

Sri Lankan students in Colombo. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 6:45pm, 31 May 2022Updated: 12:01am, 2 May 2023

Violet Mary, a 32-year-old Sri Lankan homemaker in the central town of Hatton, says she has a new task in her monthly routine: she washes old clothes and folds them into small strips.

The mother of three says she can no longer afford sanitary pads – the cheapest menstrual hygiene product in the country – so these cloths are used as a substitute amid an economic crisis that has sent the cost of daily necessities soaring. In April, year-on-year headline inflation hit 29.8 per cent and food inflation reached 46.6 per cent.

Already, Mary’s family spends 80 per cent of their monthly household income of about 30,000 rupees (US$83) on food alone, and with raw materials getting more expensive, her husband is getting less work as a daily-wage construction labourer, forcing them to tighten the purse further.

“Earlier, when I got periods, I used pads, but now everything is so expensive,” she said. “If I spend on pads, my family will not be able to eat and live.”

Mary is not alone in her struggle to afford menstrual products in Sri Lanka, experts say, and the economic woes are exacerbating inequalities in a nation where one in two women face period poverty.

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