Why 25-year-old Mahnoor Omer took Pakistan to court over periods - assalamu alaikum
Assalamu alaikum - Growing up in Rawalpindi, Mahnoor Omer remembers the shame and anxiety she felt at school when she had her period. Taking a sanitary pad to the toilet felt secretive, like hiding something embarrassing. “I used to hide my pad up my sleeve like I was taking narcotics to the bathroom,” she says. Her family is middle-class - father a businessman, mother a homemaker - and even classmates and teachers treated menstruation as something to be ashamed of. One classmate told her mother that pads were “a waste of money.”
“That’s when it hit me,” Mahnoor says. “If middle-class families think this way, imagine how out of reach these products are for others.”
Now 25, Mahnoor has moved from being a shy schoolgirl to taking a public stand in a case that could change how menstrual hygiene is treated in Pakistan. In September she petitioned the Lahore High Court, arguing that the taxes on sanitary pads - effectively a “period tax” - are discriminatory and make basic hygiene unaffordable for many women.
Pakistani law has long applied sales and customs taxes to locally made and imported sanitary pads and to raw materials used to make them. When other local levies are added, organisations estimate these products can be taxed at around 40 percent. Mahnoor’s petition says that taxes specifically affecting women violate constitutional guarantees of equality, dignity and social justice.
In a society where menstruation is often taboo, lawyers and activists say the taxes worsen the problem by putting pads out of reach. A standard pack of commercial pads can cost around 450 rupees for 10 pieces - in a country where many people live on very low incomes, that’s a significant expense. UNICEF and WaterAid research shows only about 12 percent of Pakistani women use commercial pads; most others improvise with cloth or other materials and lack access to clean water.
“If this petition goes forward, it’s going to make pads affordable,” says Hira Amjad of Dastak Foundation, a nonprofit working on gender equality. More affordable menstrual supplies, supporters say, could improve health and help girls stay in school.
For many women, periods are tied to shame from home and school. Another activist, Bushra Mahnoor, grew up with four sisters in Attock and recalls the constant worry each month about whether there would be enough pads. A teacher once humiliated a girl for a stained uniform; experiences like that, and lack of information, shape girls’ lives. Studies find most girls feel embarrassed talking about periods and many receive no information before their first time.
After the 2022 floods, Bushra started Mahwari Justice to make sure relief efforts included menstrual supplies; her group has distributed period kits and used music and comics to normalise conversation about menstruation. Dastak Foundation also distributes kits during disasters. Those climate shocks, activists say, hit women hard - living in tents without supplies or privacy makes an already difficult situation worse.
Mahnoor’s path to activism began young. She volunteered making and distributing “dignity kits” in low-income neighbourhoods, raised funds through bake sales, and later worked on gender and criminal justice issues. She has been involved with women’s rights marches and is studying gender, peace and security abroad while planning to return to practise law in Pakistan. A friend and tax lawyer encouraged her to file the petition, turning frustration into a legal challenge.
Supporters argue this is about more than price: it’s about justice. Tax policies are often set by privileged decision-makers who may not consider how they affect ordinary women. Removing taxes on menstrual products could ease financial burdens, reduce stigma, and have wider benefits for health and education. Some campaigners also push for safer, more sustainable products and for workplace protections like paid menstrual leave for women who need it.
Mahnoor says her parents were worried at first about challenging the state, but now they are proud. For her, the case isn’t just a legal fight - it’s about dignity and fairness. “When I think of this case,” she says, “the picture that comes to mind … it’s not a courtroom, it’s a feeling of justice.”
May Allah make it easy for those working to remove barriers to basic dignity for women. Wa alaikum assalam.
https://www.aljazeera.com/feat