大象传媒

When Radha Paudel was 7 years old, she started noticing something strange: Every few weeks, her mother had separate plates to eat off, separate clothes to wear, and a separate place to sleep. She wasn鈥檛 allowed to enter the kitchen and couldn鈥檛 participate in any social, religious, or cultural activities.

The little girl approached her mother, who told her that she was menstruating. She said menstrual blood was dirty, and that menstruation was a curse from God. Paudel was so traumatized by witnessing these restrictive monthly practices that she begged God to turn her into a boy. When that didn鈥檛 happen, at 9 years old, she attempted suicide, and survived.

When Paudel鈥檚 first menstruation arrived at age 14, rather than be forced to follow the restrictions surrounding the idea of menstruation being unclean, she ran away from home.

It was only when she started attending nursing college the next year that Paudel learned that menstrual blood is a natural part of the body. She realized that the menstrual discrimination that she, her mother, and her three sisters experienced was widespread in Nepal. It affected both rural and urban menstruators, rich or poor.

As Paudel later learned in her career as a nurse, activist, and writer, many of her educated friends and colleagues who lived in the capital, Kathmandu, still practiced menstrual restrictions because of the fear of elders, religion, culture, traditions, or societal pressures.

鈥淢enstrual discrimination plays a huge role in constructing and reinforcing unequal power relations and patriarchy,鈥� says Paudel, who has since pioneered the movement for dignified menstruation and founded the Global South Coalition for Dignified Menstruation.

Seclusion and Secrecy

Menstrual discrimination takes many different forms. In , women are told they shouldn鈥檛 cook, visit sacred temples, or touch or go near plants. In Democratic Republic of Congo, menstruating women are told that if they work in the field the whole harvest will be destroyed. In some communities in Pakistan, women are told not to consume cold beverages, ice cream, fish, meat, milk, eggs, or pickles. 

In addition to these restrictions, there are also widespread myths about menstruation that are harmful for the physical and mental health of those who menstruate.

When Pacifique Doriane-Sognonvi started bleeding for the first time at 14 years old, she saw the drops of blood slowly trickling down her thighs and thought that she must have hurt herself somehow. She had never heard the word 鈥減eriod鈥� before and didn鈥檛 know what to do. Doriane-Sognonvi went to her older sister for advice, who informed their father, and together they cut up pieces of clothes and stuffed them in her underwear.

Then her father turned to her with a stern look on his face and proclaimed: 鈥淚f you come close to a boy and touch him or if he touches you while you are bleeding, you will become pregnant.鈥�

Puzzled and still feeling uncomfortable from the itching fabric, she accepted her father鈥檚 words as truth. It was only at 21 years old, when Doriane-Sognonvi left home and started university, that she learned that her father鈥檚 warning was untrue. 

鈥淲hen I found out that it was a lie, I was horrified and super angry,鈥� says Doriane-Sognonvi, who now works as a peer educator for the nonprofit . She organizes workshops about menstrual hygiene and sexual and reproductive health for the LGBTQ community in Ivory Coast.

Without proper and accurate information, menstruators cannot make informed decisions about their bodies and lives, and they become susceptible to misinformation.

The problem often comes down to one simple fact: The period is considered dirty, and menstruating women are either forced to stay secluded or keep it a secret. This builds fear, stigma, and silence about menstruation鈥攁t home, at school, at work, and in public.

鈥淚n Ivory Coast, menstruation is viewed as a handicap or an illness,鈥� Doriane-Sognonvi says.

The stigmatization and lack of awareness feeds into an ignorance of menstruation as an issue of public health importance. Globally, to menstrual products and adequate facilities for menstrual hygiene management.

鈥淢any girls in rural areas have never seen a pad in their whole life,鈥� says Crispine Ngena, a reproductive and climate justice activist from Democratic Republic of Congo, who is helping communities displaced after volcanic eruptions and military interventions in eastern Congo. 鈥淎ccess to period products just doesn鈥檛 exist here.鈥�

Recognizing Discrimination

For a long time, Paudel didn鈥檛 think there was hope for menstruating people. All she could see was pain, trauma, and suffering. Despite isolation and even death threats, she has dedicated her life to changing the way societies see menstruation.  

Paudel spearheaded a global movement for dignified menstruation, which she defines as 鈥渁 state where menstruators of all identities are free from any forms of menstrual discrimination, including taboos, shyness, stigma, abuse, violence, restrictions, and deprivation from services and resources associated with menstruation throughout the life cycle of menstruators.鈥澛犅�

The main goal of the Global South Coalition for Dignified Menstruation is to ensure that international organizations and countries recognize that menstrual discrimination plays a key role in constructing and shaping unequal power relations and patriarchy, starting in childhood.  

鈥淢ore than half of the population of this planet experiences menstrual discrimination in one way or another, but the United Nations has never recognized that,鈥� Paudel says.  

That鈥檚 why she has been pushing the United Nations to acknowledge menstrual discrimination as a barrier to gender equality and as a form of sexual and gender-based violence. She has presented her work to the Commission on the Status of Women four times and submitted a petition to the UN in 2019.聽聽

Menstrual discrimination violates individuals鈥� rights to dignity, freedom, and equality. It also denies (or severely complicates) their access to food and water, and can dramatically increase health risks due to the delay or denial of care.

Paudel has been consulting with governments to include dignified menstruation in national policies. Nepal has had a dignified menstruation policy since 2017. If anyone reports any form of menstrual discrimination, it is considered a social crime. By law, the perpetrator can be punished with up to three months in jail and/or a $30 bail. Paudel has been providing technical input to menstrual equity policies and research for other countries in the Global South.   

Paudel has also been teaching about menstruation at universities and high schools worldwide, mentoring Ph.D. fellows internationally, and writing fiction and nonfiction books on dignified menstruation. For her, menstruation dignity is the way to achieve equality, dismantle patriarchy, achieve sustainable development goals, and reimagine feminism.  

Paudel is often met with hostility, abuse, and blame from Nepalese and international organizations who accuse her of being anti-Hindu, negativist, and anti-tradition.  

鈥淚 don鈥檛 mind,鈥� Paudel says. 鈥淚 will never give up. I will do this whether people support me or not, till my last breath.鈥�

Conversations As a Gateway

But even without a war or a climate disaster, getting a pad or tampon can be an insurmountable task. In the United States, . This so-called period poverty鈥攊n which low-income menstruators cannot afford menstrual products鈥攃an be a one-time experience or a permanent state.

After reading by Nadya Okamoto, Aydan Garland-Miner realized that period poverty intersected with multiple issues of injustice that she was already passionate about. She launched a chapter of the menstrual equity nonprofit PERIOD at her university and distributed period products, advocated for menstrual equity legislation in Washington state, and hosted educational workshops for students. 

Now she works as the global community engagement coordinator at PERIOD, which annually distributes millions of menstrual products to grassroots organizations who are serving their communities. PERIOD has 180 chapters in the United States and 34 internationally. 

Talking about menstruation is not celebrated or popular, but Garland-Miner strongly believes it has to be done. 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 have to be giving a formal talk about menstruation, but you can talk to anyone and everyone about the fact that period poverty exists. The uncomfortable conversations are the ones that we should be having the most,鈥� she says.

. In 2023, there were more than 130 menstrual equity-related pieces of legislation introduced across the nation. 

In 2021,, which expanded period health education in the school curriculum and provides free menstrual products for all menstruating students in public schools. Oregon is one of 10 states that both require and fund period supplies. Eleven states require period products in schools but don鈥檛 provide the funding for them. And seven states provide funding but don鈥檛 require period products in schools. 

Advocates are also working on which deems menstrual products to be luxury items. This tax is on the books in 21 U.S. states, making period products even more expensive and less accessible to low-income people. 

鈥淏y removing the sales tax on menstrual products, we are recognizing that these items are essential items for health,鈥� says Garland-Miner. 鈥淓liminating the tax won鈥檛 end period poverty, but it does help identify the products as the medical necessities they are.鈥�

Making Periods Safer

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, menstrual health doesn鈥檛 only mean period products but also access to water, which is a huge challenge in communities where Crispine Ngena works.

In the North Kivu province, access to water sources is limited. People mainly rely on rainwater, which, due to climate change, has become irregular. People have to buy 20-liter (5-gallon) jugs of water that cost U.S. $0.17鈥攁 major expense when . With water being scarce and underwear a luxury item, menstruation is hard to manage and many bleeding people suffer from infections and rashes.

That is why Ngena鈥檚 nonprofit, Actions for the Conservation of Nature and Community Development (ACNDC), has been distributing reusable pads, water buckets, soaps, and underwear to different communities. They have been working with groups of girls who were displaced after the volcanic eruption of Mount Nyiragongo in 2021 and also with girls who had to move to camps due to the ongoing military conflict in Congo since 2023. For most of these girls in rural areas, it was the first time that they have seen a pad or worn underwear.

Ngena is a firm believer that access to period products should be easy and free for everyone. Without them, girls stay at home, do not go to school, and cannot work or go to religious ceremonies. She says introducing comprehensive sexual education courses at school would help break the stigma around menstruation.

鈥淲ith proper education, girls would learn how to manage their menstruation safely,鈥� says Ngena.

Gender-Responsive Disaster Relief

Educating people about menstrual health is also a priority for Ayesha Amin, a Pakistani women鈥檚 and climate justice activist. Amin鈥檚 nonprofit, Baithak: Challenging Taboos, has been conducting sessions to educate both women and men about different aspects of menstrual health. 

Amin says the most common myth in Pakistan is that women should not bathe during their period because it will lead to infertility. To counter this and other misinformation, Amin and her peer educators speak about physiological, hormonal, physical, and emotional changes, as well as premenstrual syndrome, premenstrual dysphoric disorder, nutrition, managing stress and pain, hygiene, and sanitation. Over the past five years, they have reached 300,000 girls and women with sessions on menstrual health as well as family planning and gender-based violence across Pakistan.

. The floods affected 33 million people, of which 8 million were girls and women of reproductive age.

鈥淲e saw young girls and women having urinary infections because they didn鈥檛 have any menstrual products. They used leaves, ragged clothes, and were not able to change menstrual cloth for an entire day,鈥� Amin says.

During this climate disaster, Baithak set up a flood response to provide menstrual kits to women and girls who were worst affected by the floods. Soon, they received requests from other parts of the country, so they expanded their program. 

Together with the Pakistani government, the nonprofit is building the capacity of grassroots organizations so they can work with their local governments to ensure that climate crisis responses are gender responsive. They are also building the capacity of disaster management authorities in Pakistan to ensure that the needs of menstruating people are prioritized in case of climate emergencies.

While fundraising for menstrual products, Amin has received both positive and negative reactions. 鈥淭here was a whole Twitter campaign saying that 鈥業f you are giving pads to women, also send shaving kits to men.鈥� This really struck me. Women don鈥檛 choose to menstruate during a climate disaster,鈥� Amin says.  

Making Menstruation Positive

Menstruation is a taboo in so many societies. But it doesn鈥檛 have to be. With the right education鈥攁t home, at school, and in the halls of government鈥攎enstruation can be seen as the natural part of life it is. 

鈥淚f we want the menstrual cycle to have a place in all discussions鈥攆rom being listed in the Declaration of Human Rights to pharmaceutical testing, from employment law and work practice to educational approach and exams鈥攚e need to ask the question, 鈥楬ow does this situation disadvantage cyclic women?鈥欌�� says Miranda Gray, a British author of books on menstrual wisdom for modern women. 

鈥淔or society to have a positive image of the menstrual cycle, and for it to be part of discussions, women themselves first need to have a positive view of their own cycle.鈥�