We present a guest feature with Radha Paudel, Nepalese activist, author, and founder of the Global South Coalition for Dignified Menstruation.
What is dignified menstruation?
Dignity is the right of a person to be valued and respected for their own sake, and to be treated ethically whether or not they are menstruating. Being shamed into feeling less valued or respected because of a natural process like menstruation is a direct cause of undignified menstruation. Regardless of class, religion, or race, menstrual stigma and restrictions are practiced to varying degrees around the world. A key part of breaking this stigma is understanding that menstrual blood is not impure and that menstruation is a biological milestone for women.
Misunderstanding periods and fearing menstrual blood often leads to restrictions on mobility, food, and activities. This can create long-term negative consequences for people who menstruate, contributing to both physical and psychological suffering such as disgust, shock, sadness, or absence from school or work. People should be able to have periods without their daily lives being disrupted every month.
Within the topic of period poverty and menstrual exclusion, much of the focus is placed on menstrual hygiene, period products, and the tax placed on those products. While these are important issues to address, they do not guarantee dignified menstruation. More effort is needed to help society understand and view menstruation without stigma, taboo, or discrimination.
For example, the Kenyan government has distributed menstrual products to all schoolgirls since 2017 to improve access to education. While this should have reduced menstrual exclusion, shame, and stigma, more work is needed. In September 2019, a 14-year-old schoolgirl who experienced her first period during a lesson was reportedly branded “dirty” and expelled from the classroom. After being ridiculed by both her teacher and the boys in her class, her mother said that the girl took her own life when she returned home because of the shame and stigma she faced after staining her clothes.
Even with access to menstrual products, shame and stigma can remain. This is why any menstrual education must address menstrual blood through the lens of dignity.
Activist Radha Paudel explains:
“ As the virtue of a human being, each girl, woman, and menstruator deserves dignity during menstruation. It is a state free from any forms of abuse, discrimination, violence associated with menstruation. ”
In other words, there should be no difference between the days when someone is menstruating and the rest of the month. Radha Paudel describes three ways to achieve dignified menstruation through the three “P”s:
PSYCHOLOGICALLY
To cultivate gender equality and justice, conversations about dignified menstruation should begin with both girls and boys from a young age.
PRINCIPALLY
Menstruation should be recognised as a human rights concern.
PRACTICALLY
Because menstruation is complex and multifaceted, interventions must address both immediate and long-term issues. Water, sanitation, education, human rights, and empowerment should be pursued simultaneously under the shared goal of achieving dignified menstruation.
