Every day, girls in low-income countries around the world are staying home from school due to menstrual cycle starting. It is estimated that girls might be missing as much as 10% to 20% of school days due to complications connected to menstruation. There are three major implications that young women face that stop them from attending school. Firstly, there are inadequate (female designated) bathrooms. Where there are bathrooms in schools, there are often few in number, toilets often lack doors (which create ridicule from the boys), no proper disposal for sanitary products, and they have a complete lack of water or are from a source - all of which makes them late for school. Secondly, there is largely insufficient menstrual supplies. Young women lack menstrual products and even clean underwear and are forced to manage with cloth, tissues, or toilet paper. Many would rather miss school than potential face ridicule from a menstrual leak. Thirdly, these girls lack any informal or formal education about menstruation. Girls often receive no guidance from family and many schools lack any formal education on puberty and menstruation for girls, largely due to neglect and male-dominance in schools. So, why is this happening? Despite growing local and global attention, cultural taboos and secrecy about menstrual blood are reinforcing a large gap in knowledge (particularly by men and men in positions of power) that causes these issues to continue to be neglected. But change is occurring! Currently researchers, programmers, and policymakers are working globally to address menstrual health barriers facing school-aged girls. UNICEF country officers in Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, South-East Asia, and Latin America presented research on their early efforts to address barriers to positive menstrual health practices in collaboration with country education systems. Also, for the first time there are also girl's puberty books are being published in countries such as Tanzania, Ghana, Cambodia, Sierra Leone, India, and Zimbabwe. Also, growing advocacy to remove value-added tax on the import of sanitary materials into Sub-Saharan African countries and numerous local and entrepreneurial efforts to produce reusable, low-cost, environmentally friendly, and sustainable sanitary materials. We (as governmental organizations, NGOS, non-profits, etc.) need to build on the momentum that has been occuring and continue to understand the impact that menstrual health has young women's ability to learn and thrive in the school setting. A multi-sectional response encompassing water provision/sanitation, sanitation, urban planning, education, and health can ensure that appropriate evidence-based and cost-effective interventions and policy are developed and implemented and that girls and women ultimately use them. As with other sensitive or taboo topics, responses must be culturally and locally based and adapted to ensure they are effective.
Chapter 7 (health and population) of Engendering Development very similarly discusses how economic development programs tend to focus on technological fixes rather than providing sanitation measures/infrastructure/resources that are practical and will realistically work for all members within a given community. Women have different and arguably more crucial sanitation needs as they undergo menstruation, pregnancy, and childbirth, and are more likely to suffer from infection and illnesses (such as UTIs and yeast infections) from poor sanitation/contaminated water from their various semi-exposed internal genitalia. When bathrooms are not available within/near their home, women are at risk for harassment or assault if they seek, for example, to use a bathroom without a door, a bathroom at night, or have to walk far distances to use one. Also, if women wait extended periods to urinate or limit the amount of water/liquids they are consuming in order to urinate less/altogether, this can lead to UTIs or kidney stones.
This is a very interesting topic. There are a lot of NGOs and organizations that have taken up this problem and try to ensure that every month, school girls in rural areas have the sanitary supplies they need for their period.
ReplyDeleteI would like us to think of this from the sustainability point of view. Most people often tackle this issue by donating sanitary supplies to these needy areas, but is that really sustainable? There are a lot of factors that come to play when it comes to addressing such issues. Infrastructural development is one of the most important aspects to look at. Also, cultural norms concerning these issues must also not be ignored. Especially in Africa where menstruation is seen as a dirty secret, it is not often discussed, even between mothers and their girl child.
Big sanitary companies like Always, Cora, and Lola, do global campaigns that if you buy one box of always, a girl in Africa gets one box, but is that sustainable, and for how long will they continue to supply pads and tampons.
We must move away from this tactic of dealing with the issue and look at the bigger picture and address this from the root cause.
I think this a really important topic that needs to be addressed especially in "developing nation". I have read about different situations in rural Nigeria where the girl child stays home at least 7 days a month because of their menstrual period. So, in a month, the girl child misses school for 7 days just because she's menstruating and her parent cannot afford to get a sanitary pad. In some other cases, some girls use unsanitary cloth for their periods and in turn, get sick.
ReplyDeleteIf condoms can be given for free, I see no reason why menstrual pads should not be free. However, beyond just giving out menstrual pads, there is a need to educate people both males and females in the community. There is a need to address the stigmas and taboos that surround menstruation.
While chapter 7 of engendering development talks about development being focused on technology and not on sanitation, I generally think development should include health and the environment. It is important to note that women's health cannot be treated the same way as men's. So, instead of advocating for equality in health in relation to development, I think equity in health should be more pronounced as improving health particularly women's health should also be seen as development.
This is a very interesting topic, it also reminded me on one of the readings we had a couple of weeks ago “From Feminising to Engendering Development” where in one part of the piece, it criticized the new tendency of GAD to incorporate a rights-based approach. In this regard, it stated that this approach has contributed towards focusing on the negative rather than positive rights. For example, anti-discrimination sensibilization practices but no real action towards gender equality which in this article can be defined as equal and equitable access to sanitary services within educational institutions. In addition, another major critique was, once the rights were established, there are hardly defined paths to be able to exercise these rights without causing harm or retaliations especially in societies with higher levels of gender differences. This means that concrete improvements and choice are still very limited for women’s reproductive and sexual health. Nevertheless, it is inspiring to read that progress is being made and that certain barriers such as accessible and adequate toiletries, value-added taxes for sanitary items and the incorporation of these topics in textbooks are being assessed. This will undoubtedly change the lives of many women especially from the global south which leads to conclude that although strategic needs are important and need to continue to be pursued, basic needs must be attended first and foremost.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very interesting topic, It reminded me with one of the articles of Iris Young about “On Female Body Experience”
ReplyDeleteAs Young (2005) claimed that menstruation is a basis of oppression for women due to the shame attached to monthly bleeding and the encounters women experience as menstruators in public spheres (such as workplace and school), and she said that menstruation renders women “queer” in a community that recognizes the male non-menstruator as the “standard” human. She proposed that menstruating women are, in effect, “in the closet” about their stigmatized menstrual condition. Social relations of somatophobia and misogyny remain to hold over women, in some situations, the risk of being ‘outed’ as menstruators, from time to time with significant outcomes to their self-esteem or chances for benefits. This process nevertheless has disturbing consequence for many women. Also, the public, through negative responses about women’s cycles and negative reactions to any discussion of the menses socially constructs menstruation as negative. Absence of awareness about the body and the menstrual cycle might put girls and young women in a place where they feel negative emotions such as shame about their reproductive body roles and lower self-esteem.
Hi Sarah,
DeleteThis is an interesting topic! Menstruation is a very delicate topic but is less talked about in our societies. It is extremely disturbing how there are so many challenges regarding this natural occurrence, right from the misconstrued notions to the insufficient menstrual management products like sanitary pads or tampons, to the nuances. The inadequate supply of menstrual products especially among young girls in low-income countries causes disturbing effects. It is even surprising to know that, sometimes there is even the challenge of accessibility to water, sanitation, and hygienic facilities to enhance safe menstruation. Non-governmental organizations are doing their utmost best to alleviate these challenges, but it looks like their best is not enough.