By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Chief Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

EQUALITY Bahamas is pressing the government to address the limited choice of menstrual products available in the country — restricted in style, size, and material — by investing in national manufacturing and ensuring the items are sold tax-free in stores and pharmacies.

Founder Alicia Wallace made the call yesterday while presenting recommendations from an Equality Bahamas workshop during the University of The Bahamas’ fourth Democracy Conference.

“We’re not going based on what politicians want to do or what political parties want to do. We’re starting with us, what are the issues that we see, and not just that, but tapping into our own knowledge and experience to be able to solve these issues,” Ms Wallace said.

The small-group workshops, involving two to four participants, focused on issues tied to health, education, youth, and LGBTQI rights. One of the most urgent themes raised was the lack of variety and accessibility of menstrual products.

Ms Wallace noted that while pads, tampons, and sanitary napkins are stocked locally, newer alternatives like menstrual cups, discs, and period underwear are rarely found. She said this shortage often stems from suppliers refusing to import items they consider unprofitable.

“Why might that be?” she asked. “We landed on the fact that people with bodies that menstruate are decentered across the board – just unimportant and don’t need any attention. So we asked, where does this issue show up? Where does it affect people? And pretty much everywhere, because menstruating bodies go everywhere and are needed everywhere, school, work, family, church, all these different places.

“But we also found that this is happening from the very beginning. When you get your first period, and somebody talks to you about it, how many people who have ever menstruated were presented with options for products that they use in that first talk? Was everyone pushed

towards pads?”

She said participants also described troubling experiences with access to postpartum products

and criticised how election campaigns routinely overlook the needs of people who menstruate, including reproductive health care.

Ms Wallace added that the lack of reproductive health data continues to hinder progress. She urged solutions such as gender mainstreaming, education, secular approaches to policymaking, and challenging Christian fundamentalism.

The group recommended allocating resources to create a knowledge base to support national manufacturing of tax-free menstrual products, with models to be shared with CARICOM.

Also at the conference, Aneesah Abdullah, United Nations Country Coordination Officer for The

Bahamas, highlighted concerns about state capture, describing how private-sector profit motives

too often drive political decision-making.

She said participants perceived that a small number of business actors exert disproportionate influence on key policy choices.