The onset of menstruation means a new phase – and new vulnerabilities – in the lives of adolescents. Yet, many adolescent girls face stigma, harassment and social exclusion during menstruation. Transgender men and non-binary persons also face discrimination due to their gender identity, depriving them of access to the materials and facilities they need.
May 28 is observed as Menstrual Hygiene Day across the world. Though it is as normal as any other biological function of a human body, where the lining of the uterus breaks down and leaves the body through the vagina, it is still brushed under the carpet and not discussed openly. The stigma associated with a woman bleeding every month leads to poor hygiene among a large section of rural women who use wood husk, leaves, paper and other such materials instead of sanitary napkins when on their periods. This cycle in a woman’s body leads to ovulation and reproduction and yet women feel ashamed and dirty discussing it openly.
Every month, 1.8 billion people across the world menstruate. Millions of these girls, women, transgender men and non-binary persons are unable to manage their menstrual cycle in a dignified, healthy way.
Gender inequality, discriminatory social norms, cultural taboos, poverty and lack of basic services like toilets and sanitary products can all cause menstrual health and hygiene needs to go unmet.
It restricts their mobility and personal choices. It affects attendance in school and participation in community life. And it compromises their safety, causing additional stress and anxiety. These challenges are particularly acute in humanitarian crises.
To help overcome these challenges, there is a dire need to support families in these hard-to-reach communities with water provision, water storage facilities, sanitation and toilets – as well as sharing important hygiene messages and distributing hygiene kits (containing soap, toothpaste, shampoo and sanitary pads). Government should provide free sanitary napkins to all adolescent girls, install sanitary pad vending machines and incinerators for proper disposal of the sanitary napkins in the schools.
Practitioners engaged in advocacy related to menstrual management should have an awareness of stigma and harmful practices related to menstruation in the specific cultural context where they are working. They must support efforts to change harmful cultural norms and practices that stigmatize menstruation and menstruating women and girls.
We all should join hands together to address discrimination that affects the ability to deal with menstruation, including for women and girls with disabilities, LBTI and gender non-conforming people, and other at-risk populations; and be aware of the right to participate in decision-making and to get information.
Teaching boys how periods and the menstrual cycle works helps them better understand the importance and practicalities of safe sex and contraception, which could help prevent unwanted pregnancies when they are older.
This Menstrual Hygiene Day, let’s pledge to create a society in which every woman, girl, transgender man and non-binary person is empowered to manage her menstruation safely, hygienically, with confidence and without shame.