This article is focused on the following UN Sustainable Development Goal:
“I didn’t tell anyone because I was afraid” (Menstrual Health in Ethiopia).
Afraid of menstruation? Or afraid of being judged.
The stigma revolving around menstruation is perpetrated by social standards, cultural taboos, discrimination, and lack of education. Religious and cultural traditions prevent some girls from attending school during their periods. A reported 17% of girls do not attend school on their periods, and 25% have no access to any menstrual health products (Uthman). In the Ethiopian culture, periods are not to be spoken of. Though Ethiopians see it as coming of age and maturing, there are various stigmas around periods. It is foundational to achieving equality and more awareness on this subject since menstrual challenges can compromise schooling, mobility, work, and other activities.
Menstruation is often overlooked, it is not to be discussed because of its nature. This ideology is embedded in Ethiopian culture, many girls do not know how to manage their periods, and are often ashamed to ask for help. This society condemns periods and views the girls as dirty - often because of their lack of supplies and limited access to water - they are not allowed to go to church, go into the kitchen, and cannot perform their daily chores around the house. Inadequate menstrual hygiene can lead to higher female death rates, infection, and lower school attendance. Inaccurate or incomplete knowledge about menstruation is a great hindrance in the path of personal and menstrual hygiene management.
“All I want is for all girls to have dignity. Period.” - Freweini Mebrahtu, Ethiopian Chemical Engine
Every day, in Ethiopia, women and girls are denied their right to basic hygiene products because of their gender. In the midst of this global Pandemic, the UN had started an initiative to emphasize the importance of continuing menstrual hygiene awareness for girls and women in Ethiopia. They are spreading this urgent message through the “Menstrual Hygiene day” campaign to further highlight the fact that “periods don’t pause for Pandemics,” as they put it. This program is providing sanitation kits to girls who are in poverty, refugees, internally displaced, or suffering from the Pandemic.
In the past few years, this stigma is beginning to dissolve, the idea of menstruation is beginning to come up in schools, with parents, and women have better access to sanitary products. Women empowerment organizations are surfacing and affordable, reusable biodegradable pads are becoming accessible to many more females. Though many girls are still suffering from inadequate education and lack of health care products, gradually, the “taboo” of menstruation is beginning to fade away in Ethiopia. Given the multiple challenges women and adolescent girls face, it is evident that promoting menstrual hygiene management is not only a matter of sanitation; it is also an important step towards safeguarding the dignity, and overall life opportunities of women and girls.
Access to sanitary kits for girls in developing countries is transformational, and you may be wondering …. how can I help?
Raising awareness with the UN Ethiopia “Menstrual Hygiene day” campaign
Donating to foundations like the DignityPeriod
Going on the “Buy a Kit” website and donating
And remember, change starts with you.
Works Cited
"Blog: Health Matters." FAWCO, 8 Sept. 2019, https://www.fawco.org/global-issues/target-
program/health/blog-health-matters/4146-sample. Accessed 31 May 2021.
Chambers, Sarah. "Hygiene Kits for Girls." Food for the Hungry,
www.fh.org/product/hygiene-kit-for-girls/. Accessed 2 June 2021.
"Menstrual Health in Ethiopia | Country Landscape Analysis." Menstrual. Hygiene Day,
menstrualhygieneday.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/FSG-Menstrual-Health-
Landscape_Ethiopia.pdf. Accessed 31 May 2021.
NCBI. 4 Dec. 2017, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6482969/. Accessed 31 May
2021.
"Periods don't pause for a pandemic." UN Ethiopia, 28 May 2020, ethiopia.un.org/en/47571-
periods-dont-pause-pandemic. Accessed 2 June 2021.
"Tending the 'Monthly Flower:' a Qualitative Study of Menstrual Beliefs in Tigray, Ethiopia."
BMC Women's Health, 2018,
bmcwomenshealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12905-018-0676-z. Accessed
31 May 2021.
Uthman, Omorlara. "Every queen bleeds: Normalising menstruation in Ethiopia." Assembly,
15 July 2019, https://assembly.malala.org/stories/normalising-menstruation-in-ethiopia
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