P'ink' it, 2022, Second Runner up

  

How does period poverty endanger women's right to dignity? What can be done to improve access to menstrual products?

-By Soni Kumari, Second Runner up of P'ink' it, 2022

From banishing menstruating women to huts and considering them impure in Nepal to banning women to enter temples and worshipping gods in India, menstruation is stigmatized all around the world.

 Women during their menstrual cycles are excluded from various simple activities like socializing. They are even shunned from eating certain foods and are not supposed to live a regular life as they would otherwise. Why? Just because they menstruate!

Women are discouraged from attending school and working everyday because of the social stigma related to menstruation and a lack of resources.

Period poverty basically means the lack of access to basic sanitary products, menstrual hygiene education, proper toilets, hand wash facilities, or waste disposal. It is a result of a variety of factors, including average rates of extreme poverty worldwide and stigma, shame, misinformation, and sexism around menstruation. Unsurprisingly, low-income populations, residents of conflict-affected areas, and those still recovering from natural disasters are disproportionately affected.

Sanjay Wijesekera, a former UNICEF (United nations children's fund) chief of water, sanitation and hygiene said, “Meeting the hygiene needs of all adolescent girls is a fundamental issue of human rights, dignity, and public health”. Every human being is endowed with certain rights as a result of their inherent worth. Menstruation and human dignity are closely intertwined; when people lack access to clean bathing facilities and reliable methods of managing their menstrual hygiene, they are unable to manage their periods with dignity. Teasing, isolation, and shame associated with menstruation also breach the idea of human dignity. Menstruation can become a time of humiliation and deprivation for some people due to gender discrimination, extreme poverty, humanitarian crises, and destructive customs, which can affect their ability to exercise basic human rights. This is true for women and girls, as well as for transgender men and nonbinary people who menstruate.

Menstrual health and hygiene can be improved by certain measures like spreading awareness, social support, and provision of adequate supplies.

The taboos associated with periods can be reduced to many extents through educating people about the vital issues related to periods like pregnancy, UTIs, iron deficiency in women. Once people realize how important menstrual health is, half of the problem will be solved. They will not see it as a stigma but a boon, they will not humiliate women but respect them and provide them with social support. This will automatically boost women’s dignity.

The key to improving menstrual health and hygiene is the adequate access to affordable and sustainable menstrual products like sanitary pads, tampons, menstrual cups, etc. but millions of women around the world can't afford these products. Provision of menstrual products at affordable prices should be ensured by governments. Many researches have shown that nearly one in five girls miss school due to period poverty. Governments can mandate free or low-priced period products in schools and workplaces to improve this situation. Some developed countries like the US and UK have taken the initiative of providing free sanitary pads in schools and prisons but other under-developed and developing nations are still lagging behind.

However, initiatives to acknowledge period poverty as a pressing problem moves forward. Scotland becoming the first country to provide free sanitary products from august 2022 has set an example for other countries. Further, the world's top professionals in the field will gather to set objectives for menstruation advocacy at the first global forum on period poverty, which is scheduled to begin in Australia in October 2022. Hopefully, a wave of change around this issue will be seen.

Soni Kumari,

Third year,

B.A. Economics Hons.,

Lady Shri Ram College.