Period pants – washable and reusable underwear for when people menstruate – are becoming increasingly popular. They’re cheaper in the long run and more environmentally friendly than sanitary pads and tampons, which require frequent replacement.
Unfortunately, many people struggle to buy them because the upfront cost ranges from £6 to £18 per pair. Period poverty (not being able to afford sanitary products) has been on the rise in the UK as people’s incomes have continued to decline in real terms.
Up until now, period pants have been classified as a garment in the UK, meaning that they’ve been subject to 20 percent VAT. However, the government has announced that it will be reclassifying them as period products, meaning that consumers won’t pay any VAT on them. This will reduce the average price of a pair by £2.
As wonderful as this news is, we have to ask why it is that people are living in period poverty in the first place. If the economy exists to serve society’s needs, why do many people not have adequate access to sanitary products?
The sad truth is that in an economy that’s run on a capitalist basis, businesses exist to do whatever’s most profitable for their shareholders. If you don’t have the income to afford their sanitary products, that’s too bad for you, but not the business’s problem.
An economy where businesses produce and distribute goods and services to maximize profits will never be able to provide the whole population with everything it needs and wants.
It’s profitable to push wages down as far as possible. It’s profitable to price gouge. And there’s no guarantee built into the system that people will be able to afford the things they need. That simply isn’t the purpose of the capitalist system.
Instead of this, if we had democratic control of the economy, we could produce and distribute essential goods, like sanitary products, food, clothing, and housing to everybody as a right. We could decide as a society what we need and want to produce, and then distribute it however we think will benefit us all the most.
This is in stark contrast with our current model, where a small group of wealthy shareholders controls each business and produces what makes them the most money, with no thought or care for what the majority of people need.
But what about reforms?
Surely this removal of VAT from period pants is a sign that we can combat poverty under the current system, right?
The sad truth is that while we sometimes get concessions from the ruling class, they are never enough and they never last. Social democratic welfare programs are gradually being dismantled throughout Europe, even in the fabled Scandinavian countries. The privatisation of the NHS has gone so far that NHS dentistry barely exists, while there are record waiting lists for elective procedures, such as hip replacements. Many people in the UK can’t afford to heat their homes in winter, and people are turning down vegetables from food banks because they can’t afford to cook them.
Under capitalism, the state serves the interests of the capitalist class, even when it presents itself as a democracy. No political party can campaign effectively without large amounts of money, which they have to get from businesses and wealthy individuals, who expect something in return. Meanwhile, the majority of the media is owned by capitalists or those who support capitalism. They promote political parties that align with the interests of business and demonize those which align with the interests of ordinary working marginalised people. They also prime their readers, listeners, and viewers with beliefs that lead them to vote against their interests. Poverty gets blamed on migrants, rather than our economic and governmental system. People get distracted by scare stories about LGBTQ+ people, when no real threat exists from them. And that’s before we get to gerrymandering and other measures of distorting democracy.
The system is rigged in favour of the ruling, capitalist class. It sucks but there it is, so we have to replace it.
Capitalism has had its day. It was an improvement over feudalism for sure. This few hundred years of capitalism has helped us to produce enormous wealth. But capitalism has outlived its usefulness now, so it’s time to move onto another stage of human society, one where we all get to have a say in how the economy is run. One where we can guarantee food, housing, healthcare, and all other essential services to everybody.
We need socialism.
