Ladies in Selangor, this is good news for you!

Selangor will be the first state in Malaysia to provide FREE sanitary pads and for this initiative, the state government has also allocated RM200,000 to hold awareness campaigns.

Bukit Melawati assemblyperson, Juwairiya Zulkifli said that is not a new issue but the social stigma has prompted people NOT to talk further about it.

With this initiative, Juwairiya said that this will not only benefit the receivers but also help address the stigma surrounding period poverty issues.

“Among the groups at risk of facing such a situation are women in rural areas, the urban poor, and the extreme poor.”

She also said that the absence of sanitary pads could also limit female students’ school activities which will result in learning loss, as this problem interferes with the learning process.

“Students may choose not to attend school, and this is one of the reasons that lead to dropouts.”

Juwairiya said that several foreign countries have also implemented similar programmes, including South Korea, which offered free sanitary towels since 2018 in all public places, followed by Scotland in 2020, as reported by Selangor Kini.

Meanwhile, she also hopes that this programme can continue in the coming year with a bigger allocation to tackle menstrual poverty in Selangor. The allocation comes under the state’s RM2.45 billion budget for 2023 which was tabled last week by Selangor Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari.

We hope that this initiative will help the less fortunate when it comes to period poverty. Fellow ladies, are you excited about this, and do you think this will help you in a big way?

Also read: “Have you no shame?” M’sian Troll Page Calls Out PKR For Giving Out Pads On Women’s Day