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Discriminatory Practices during Menstruation

Gyanmaya Tamang

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Background

  • Born: Sindhupalchok district at Melamchi-4 but I studied at Melamchi-6
  • Education:
    • Batase Secondary School
    • +2 in Nepal Mega college in Babarmahal, Kathmandu with help of Samaanta Foundation
    • UWC-USA at New Mexico in the US.
  • Interests: Reading novel fiction books, writing daily diary and poems, collecting new experiences and to go out of my comfort zone.
  • I joined Aakar program because I really want to see social issues on grassroot level so I can help mitigate it.

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Problem Statement

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Project goals:

  • Menstrual hygiene and sanitary product awareness
  • Teach skills to address superstitions
  • Teach basic anatomy of female reproductive organs

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Relevance

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  • It de-motivates community engagement, influences the superstition to the new generation, and increases probability of diseases and mental health issues
  • If unresolved, it could affect the development of society and development in manpower

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Context

  • Teenage girls miss a lot of valuable opportunities due to society’s view on menstruation.
  • Lack of awareness about menstrual hygiene and practices lowers attendance of girls in school
  • Losing on school attendance lowers academic success and later, job opportunity for the girls
  • Program about menstruation such as my project would help the community

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Baseline Data

According a research in 2023 in Chitwan, 53% of girls missed school due to lack of menstrual hygiene awareness 1

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1 Khanal G, Shrestha N, Adhikari K, Ghimire U. Menstruation hygiene management among secondary school students of Chitwan, Nepal:a cross-sectional study. BMC Womens Health. 2023 Jul 26;23(1):395. doi: 10.1186/s12905-023-02494-x. PMID: 37495966; PMCID: PMC10373230.

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Approach

Awareness programs on discrimination in menstruation and hygienic menstrual health methods

  • Organized two awareness sessions within my community of 21 to 32 students each
    • Educational (anatomy)
    • Hygiene (Menstrual product)
    • Social (Superstitious beliefs)

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Challenges

Rainy season caused flooding, making transportation hard.

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Walked halfway to the location

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I requested professional person(HA, gynecologist) to help me during my session

I faced rejection from some professionals.

I took suggestions from seniors like pharmacist, gynecologist to create educational contents for the sessions.

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To find a healthcare professional

Transportation

Conducting effective session

Language barrier, Technical topic

  • Brought materials to help students understand
  • Made the questionnaire in Nepali

Complex issue in society: Restrictions in kitchens, holy places and gardens

  • Shared my own experience as a local to start the conversation.

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14th July

31st July

Implemented my project in Batase Secondary School

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16th September

Presented the project

Project Milestones

25th June

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Implemented my project in FHC (Friends of Himalayan Children) and got feedback

Ideation plan submission, selected what location to carry out project, gathered volunteers for project/ collected materials and cost

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Impact - Increased awareness about the biological, social and healthy practices around menstruation

  • Conducted pre and post session surveys
  • After the two sessions, more than 70% of students were able to answer questions about menstrual health with over 80% accuracy

Pre-session

Post-session

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Impact 1: Education on the biology of menstruation

  1. Gathered 53 students to attend informational session
    1. New knowledge about parts of body

I asked about urethral path and vaginal path before session, they said that they are same path so we can’t pee during wearing the menstrual cup.

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Impact 2

Menstruation management: hygiene and products

  • Was able to gather 53 students to attend informational session
    • Information about menstrual cup, sanitary pads and pantyliner
    • Showed how to make homemade pad
    • Aware about possible diseases that could arise from lack of menstrual hygiene

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Impact 3

Social Aspects: Superstition

We also discussed about superstitions and I taught how to separate superstitious belief related to menstruation, what are superstition and how menstruation is a natural process.

  • Encouraged open discussion: 4 participants shared the problems they faced such as not being allowed in garden or temples during menstruation or touch the worship tools.
  • Students of all genders were more willing to learn and talk about menstruation by the end of session with each other
  • Using my survey, 70% students are more aware of superstitions/ know about how to tackle superstitions

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What I learned?

  • Manage time
    • To manage work while being overwhelmed by personal life problems, and other commitments
  • Build personal confidence: through leading my project, public speaking, etc.
  • Manage finances
  • Approach professional people
  • Write proposals
  • Proactive participation

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If I had more time, I would

  • Conduct more sessions
  • Learned a lot doing this project, and would love to continue being involved in my community

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Thank You!