French Feminist Group Plans to Siege Brussels with Giant Tampon

"We expected a socialist, leftist government to be more sensitive to gender issues and to be more prone to amend a problem that is so clearly affecting only women and is an example of gender discrimination," said Natalia Kozdra, a spokesperson for the French feminist collective Georgette Sand. Although Kozdra said Coutelle did not reach out to the group before making her budget proposal in the National Assembly, Coutelle cited Georgette Sand's online petition to decrease the tax on sanitary products as evidence to support the cause. The petition currently has over 19,000 signatures and remains online in the wake of the rejection.

According to the BBC, the National Assembly explained its decision by citing the tax revenue it would lose in 2016, which is when the proposal would go through, saying that reducing taxes on sanitary products would cost the government €55 million. "We have an impression the government uses equality issues as tokens when it suits them, without a vision to fix things where there are clearly identified problems," Kozdra said.

Kozdra and other French women have attributed the decision to the lack of women in the French government; women currently make up approximately 25 percent of France's National Assembly. "Women are under-represented in the National Assembly, so from the outset there [were] fewer female voices possible," Kozdra said. "As we saw from the [inappropriate] comparison of tampons and pads to shaving mousse for men, it does matter if you have periods or not when you comment on the issue."

Several other countries have seen petitions to decrease or eliminate taxes on tampons and sanitary products, to varying degrees of success. Earlier this year, Canada voted get rid of taxes on feminine hygiene products after a successful online petition gained traction with both liberal and conservative politicians. In Australia, a petition to decrease the tax on feminine hygiene products—which are regarded as "non-essential" there and taxed at 10 percent—was rejected in August. In the UK, the tax on sanitary products was reduced from 17.5 percent to five percent in the year 2000; in the US, policies vary state by state, though only five states with sales tax exempt tampons, pads, and other feminine hygiene products completely.

"I would be OK with tampons being reasonably taxed [at] 5.5 percent—not 20 percent like it is now," said Klaire fait Grr, a French writer whose critical blog post about France's #taxetampon generated both support and ire among readers. (She said she received "a lot of (female and male) reactions saying, 'use a cup and shut up.'") "Let's just stop considering tampons and friends as 'luxury products.' Or accept we [will] walk around with bloody pants. That promises to be fun."

Although this decision seems surprising and disappointing to many, Kozdra said Georgette Sand does not plan on giving up on decreasing the tax any time soon. "Now we have 12 months to prepare for the new budget discussion, and I can promise you we will not drop the subject," Kozdra said. "We are also planning going to Brussels to ask for lower VAT or, at best, a complete tax exemption, for sanitary products on the European level."

Kozdra added that the group has also constructed a "giant tampon" to use while protesting the tax. The collective is still deciding how best to deploy their 20-percent-taxed Trojan horse, but, she said, "it may happen that this special accessory finds its way to Brussels."