CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2021
| Author | Chacon Aguirre, Johanna |
|---|---|
| Title | Chilean Menstrual Tax: An Intersectional Gender Analysis and Policy Recommendations Toward Gender Equality |
| Summary | This thesis argues that menstruation is always a political and feminist issue. By so doing, I examine the gender, race, and class inequities that occur from Chile’s tax policy on menstrual hygiene products. This thesis starts from the challenge that Chile faces in drafting a new constitution in 2022 and the fact that the literature on the menstrual tax in Chile is an area of study that has only been examined in terms of gender. Therefore, this research contributes to gender studies scholarship by conducting an intersectional gender analysis of the menstrual tax and proposing public policy recommendations for the Chilean State and for the commission that will draft the new constitution. Using Decolonial Feminist Economics, intersectionality, and analysis of official secondary sources, I highlight the biases that exist within the Chilean tax system and analyze the economic impact of the menstrual tax, its monthly expenditure on Chilean households, and the gaps in public policies on menstruation in the Chilean context. Subsequently, I create and calculate the Chilean menstrual tax to find out how much Valued Added Tax (VAT) menstruating people pay in Chile and their average monthly minimum expenditure on menstrual hygiene products. Based on my findings, I elaborate eight public policy proposals that the Chilean State can implement to mitigate the inequalities experienced by menstruating people in Chile. I prove that this monthly expenditure financially impacts menstruating people unequally due to class and racial bias, bias toward the indigenous and immigrant population(s), taxable event bias, and exemption bias. I argue that these biases affect the daily lives of menstruating people and exacerbate social inequalities. The absence of an intersectional gender approach within the Chilean tax system and the Chilean State’s assumption of tax neutrality warrants the examination of innovative policy recommendations in order to create tax systems that are gender equitable. |
| Supervisor | Carrasco-Miró, Gisela |
| Department | Gender Studies MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2021/chacon_johanna.pdf |
Visit the CEU Library.
© 2007-2021, Central European University