Friday is the Budget presentation and one of the announcements by the Prime Minister will be tax relief on menstrual products.
Now, we don't know the details whether that's 0-rated GST or just a break on import duties, but the policy initiative is designed to alleviate some of the strain on women's monthly expenses and to help to combat what's called "period poverty."
It's the end result of a campaign that's the brainchild of one young woman, recently returned from Taiwan who Mrs Briceno says she threw her full support behind.
Rossana Briceno, Special Envoy For Families & Children
"It's a campaign that Ms. Zeidy Quetzal brought to our attention including the women's commission. It is her initiative, it is her campaign and she asked us for our support including the women's commission and the Minister and all the parliamentarians, she did her rounds and she ended up with me and I said well I have a close ear to the Cabinet so let's push this and I am so happy for her because this young lady came back with a passion from Taiwan and I think she is an incredible woman and I think we need to embrace her, support her to ensure that this is not her last campaign. And I know for a fact that Cabinet has taken this very seriously and they are looking at the whole process of making sure that the process of the sanitary products, that women do not pay the taxes on sanitary products."
Cherisse Halsall:
"Mrs. Briceno we know that we are one of the last countries in CARICOM to embrace this change, what were some of your arguments when you championed her cause to the cabinet."
Rossana Briceno, Special Envoy For Families & Children
"I said, we didn't ask for a period it's not a privilege to have a period. For some women it may be because that means that you can have a child but it's a human right and why should we be taxed because we have a period every month, you know and unfortunately its women and girls, the men don't have to pay a dollar for that. You might have to pay for other things but not for sanitary products."
Belize was one of the last of the CARICOM states to make the move to lower the taxes on menstrual products.
