"Gali, hide hygiene products, God forbid men will see them, they don't need to know how menstruation looks" I heard this as a young girl. As an adult woman, I disagree.
India, Madagascar, Nepal, Indonesia, Uganda, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Chad, Central African Republic, Egypt - these are just some of the countries from where we have social studies on the social discrimination of women during their menstruation, their lack of knowledge about their body processes, lack of hygiene products and lack of access to a private place to wash and change.
Due to discrimination and shaming girls and women in a large number of countries around the world are ashamed to talk about menstruation even to each other, which leads to a great lack of knowledge of basic female body hygiene and of reproductive system health.
Plan International studies also show that only 1 in 5 boys (22%) say they are very informed about periods and menstrual health, while almost a quarter (23%) say they are either not that informed or not informed at all.
Lack of knowledge and lack of awareness is the reason why women do not feel safe during the natural biological processes of their body - menstruation.
We need more publicity, we need to talk more about menstruation!
*Sources of data used in the text:
Plan International
UNICEF
India, Madagascar, Nepal, Indonesia, Uganda, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Chad, Central African Republic, Egypt - these are just some of the countries from where we have social studies on the social discrimination of women during their menstruation, their lack of knowledge about their body processes, lack of hygiene products and lack of access to a private place to wash and change.
Due to discrimination and shaming girls and women in a large number of countries around the world are ashamed to talk about menstruation even to each other, which leads to a great lack of knowledge of basic female body hygiene and of reproductive system health.
Plan International studies also show that only 1 in 5 boys (22%) say they are very informed about periods and menstrual health, while almost a quarter (23%) say they are either not that informed or not informed at all.
Lack of knowledge and lack of awareness is the reason why women do not feel safe during the natural biological processes of their body - menstruation.
We need more publicity, we need to talk more about menstruation!
*Sources of data used in the text:
Plan International
UNICEF
