The Pakistani government is removing the sales tax on women's menstrual products as well as birth control.The budget for next fiscal year has the sales tax on these products dropping from 18% to zero.
For decades, sanitary napkins and other menstrual items have been taxed as "luxury goods" and the price has put these products out of reach for many in Pakistan.According to a report from UNICEF, published in 2025, only about one in 10 girls and women in Pakistan use commercially manufactured products.The decision to eliminate the sale tax on these products came after activists launched a lobbying effort and legal battle that were widely covered in the media."We're very happy with this news," says Mahnoor Omer, a human rights lawyer based in Islamabad.
She is the petitioner in a September 2025 lawsuit that aimed to eliminate taxes on menstrual products."Men and women alike — everybody's cheering on and welcoming this move."For stories about life in our changing world, subscribe to NPR's Global Health newsletter.She praised the government for acting relatively quickly.
"It's less than a year [since the lawsuit to end the tax was filed] which is unprecedented," she says."Court cases take forever, and so do lawmakers and changing the law, so I will give credit where it's due."Pakistan is following in the footsteps of several other countries which, in the past decade or so, have removed or lowered taxes and import duties on menstrual products.
These countries include Malawi, India and Nepal.However, some reproductive health advocates warn that eliminating taxes does not always lower the price of sanitary napkins.Look at what happened in Malawi, says Emily Cruz, who works on menstrual health for the nonprofit Splash.
That country got rid of all the taxes on menstrual items, she says, but the price to the consumer remained the same.Exactly why is a mystery."Why haven't we seen the change in price?" she asked in an interview with NPR earlier this year.
"There's a qu...