A young lawyer is taking Pakistan’s government to court over ‘period tax.’ She hopes the case will break sexual health taboos

For years, Mahnoor Omer didn’t talk about it.

Every time the topic arose, her school friends in Islamabad, the Pakistani capital, flushed with embarrassment, Omer recalled.

“This happened so many times. A class fellow of mine would get her period during class,” she told CNN late last year. “Her white kameez on the back was entirely red. She freaked out. She had absolutely no idea what was going on with her.”

Now, the 25-year-old lawyer and her colleague, Ahsan Jehangir Khan, 29, are trying to rip apart that stigma – and ensure girls and women can access the sanitary products they need – through a landmark legal case which calls on the government to remove tax on menstrual products and categorize them as essential goods instead of luxury items.

Several medical workers and women’s rights activists who support the case told CNN that pervasive social taboos over sexual health in Pakistan have led to tax policies that prevent swathes of the population from being able to afford essential sanitary items, exacerbating gender inequalities in education, health and social welfare.