Disruption of education. Sickness. Curses brought onto the family. Anxiety. Fear. Death… These are a few of the actual and believed consequences of cultural taboos and lack of education in the developing world surrounding something as natural as… a woman’s menstrual cycle.
This is unacceptable. It’s time for a REVOLUTION.
Together, let’s break the stigmas and empower women around the globe so they can be confident, knowledgeable and healthy.
Read on to learn about how we are changing the world of girls and women in developing nations through a successful partnership with Ruby Cup, a company that is making a world of difference.
The Issue:
Menstruation is a universal experience among women. Despite this worldwide prevalence, it is also a globally stigmatized issue – a topic of embarrassment that people prefer to disregard. Around the world, different cultures have adopted harmful and dangerous beliefs and practices surrounding menstruation. Consequently, there is a disturbing lack of health education resources available to young women (and men) about the menstrual cycle. As a direct result, this lack of knowledge continues harmful myths and taboos that isolate and shame women during their monthly cycles.
Issue #1: Lack of Menstrual & Reproductive Health Education
Cultural taboos around the world often prevent menstruation from being a topic that is discussed freely, since it is seen as a dirty and unlucky part of being a woman that should be hidden. This leads to a damaging ignorance that forces girls to figure out how to deal with their cycles on their own. This also means that girls and women don’t realize that the presence of their cycle means that they are healthy and normal, and prevents them from having a sense of self-confidence that they deserve. The more that girls and women understand what is happening to them, and the fact that it is a completely normal part of being a woman, the better equipped and healthier they will be.
Issue #2: Damaging Cultural Taboos & Stereotypes
Though the stigma of discussing menstrual cycles is being broken down in the western world, harmful taboos and stereotypes remain abundant in the developing nations. Menstruating women are largely thought of as “untouchables.” They are regarded by others and themselves as impure, dirty and unlucky. If they do certain things that break the rules of the menstrual taboos such as entering restricted rooms, touching people, consuming specific foods or crossing designated rivers, bad fortune is supposed to affect their families. These traditional beliefs are deep-seated and difficult to break. As access to education improves as areas become more developed, these traditions often begin to fade. So there is hope that education is a solution.
Issue #3: Lack of Menstrual Management Materials & Facilities
Local poverty is a serious issue when trying to access materials and facilities to safely and efficiently manage one’s menstrual cycle in the developing world. This means that the products we take for granted in the western world such as sanitary pads and tampons simply aren’t available, or are prohibitively expensive. This compels girls to find ways to manage their own flow using any means necessary to avoid the embarrassment of leakage, foul odor and stains. This often results in the usage of dirty cotton, school papers, newspapers, leaves, rags, corn husks, tree bark - just about anything that is on hand. These materials, which are commonly dirty, abrasive or bacteria-ridden, can harm a woman’s genital region, resulting in mild to major infection.
Issue #4: Girls Missing School During their Period
Countless school girls around the world skip school regularly every month when they have their period. This is often because they don’t have the proper materials to regulate their flow and they don’t have anywhere to change or dispose of pads or keep clean. The taboos of certain cultures also prevent girls from attending school because they aren’t allowed to touch other people, be around men, or cross certain rivers. Regularly missing so much school negatively impacts a student’s education. It makes it hard for them to keep up academically, which often results in a high rate of school dropout among girls, lower grades, a lack of interest in their studies and failure to pursue higher education.
Cultural Taboos Surrounding Menstruation around the World
Our Plan:
Our solution to these longstanding and deep-rooted problems is actually quite simple. We are utilizing a grassroots educational approach – having local women provide local girls and women with menstruation education and donated menstrual cups.
Frequently Asked Questions:
A menstrual cup is long-lasting, eco-friendly silicone alternative to tampons or sanitary pads. This small, flexible cup is made of medical grade silicone and eliminates the need for frequent changing. Instead of absorbing your flow, like other menstrual products, it catches and collects it. Each cup is reusable and can be used for ten years straight, obviating the expense and waste incurred by other methods. This hygienic, easy, and comfortable way to manage cycles might also make it easier for girls and women to avoid the dangers, embarrassment and hindrances of current cultural norms.
Absolutely! Due to their eco-friendly, cost-saving, healthy and comfortable nature, menstrual cups are taking off all over the world, especially in developed nations.
Tampons and pads are disposables. They’re only meant to be used one time, and then they are thrown away. They take up a lot of space in landfills and are a big component of pollution. The average woman uses over 11,000 tampons over her lifetime, leaving behind residue far beyond her lifespan, especially when they’re wrapped up in plastic. Feminine hygiene waste can take centuries to biodegrade! Menstrual cups are made from silicone, a material that comes from silica, a type of sand, and when it slowly degrades it returns to it’s original state which isn’t hazardous to the environment. They also have a long, reusable lifespan. Menstrual cups can be used, cleaned, and re-used for an average of 10 years before they need to be replaced.
Menstrual cups are widely available in the online marketplace, though we particularly love Ruby Cup, because of their social-conscious, world-changing business model which donates cups to projects like ours in the developing world through their buy-one-give-one model. Check them out here.
The biggest way that you can help is to support Ruby Cup’s Buy One, Give One program by ordering your own menstrual cup! This allows them to work with organizations like us to get rid of terrible menstrual stereotypes.
Photo credits: Thank you to Zachary Williams from www.orphanednation.com for his excellent photos of our teachers and beneficiaries in Nepal!
Together, we can change the world. Today, let's change the world of young women in Nepal and Ghana.
