Myths about menstruation that prevent girls from going to school
The organisation Noble Cup challenges stigmas regarding menstruation in Ethiopia. (Courtesy of Malin Fezehai / Malala Fund)
In ancient Rome, naturalist and philosopher Pliny the Elder wrote that menstruating women have the power to dry out gardens, blunt steel and kill swarms of bees with just one look.
The Mae Enga of New Guinea believed menstrual blood could sicken men if they came in contact with it.
And the Yupiit peoples thought that hunting clothing and equipment could be affected by a menstruating woman’s odour.
While these beliefs (hopefully) seem preposterous now, inaccurate information about menstruation persists to the present day. Not only can these misconceptions put girls in medical danger, but they often prevent them from going to school.
We debunk five current myths about menstruation and highlight how activists and organisations are challenging these beliefs.
Myth: Menstruation is dirty.
Menstrual fluid is made up of blood and tissue, and it is not dirty or harmful. Yet, this belief that periods are unclean is common around the world.
Sana Lokhandwala says that menstruating girls and women in Pakistan are commonly labelled as dirty and are “ostracized in dark places” and “shunned from any human interaction” while on their periods. Forced isolation causes girls to miss class while menstruating.
(Courtesy of Sana Lokhandwala / HER Pakistan)
With her sister Sumaira, Sana founded the organisation HER Pakistan to educate Pakistani girls and women about menstruation. They hold workshops at schools for girls and boys to teach accurate information about this natural bodily function and explain why periods are not unclean. HER Pakistan also helps girls access hygienic and affordable sanitary products in underprivileged communities where girls often use “[r]ags, paper, leaves and even sand” to manage their periods.
“Apart from causing serious diseases, lack of access to hygienic products restricts the mobility of women and girls,” she shares. “Hence, they miss out on school and work.” Sana hopes that by educating communities about menstruation and increasing access to period products through HER Pakistan, she can help girls complete their education.
Myth: Once a girl gets her period, she is ready to get married.
Menstruating for the first time is an important step of puberty, which is when the body starts to change to become more adult. However, menstruation is not an indicator that a girl is ready for marriage. On average, girls first menstruate around 12 years old. Marriage at that age can have devastating consequences for a girl’s health and education.
(Courtesy of Syson Ahabwe / Let Them Help Themselves)
“When a girl gets her first and second period, some parents believe that such a girl is old enough to be married,” says 21-year-old Syson Ahabwe of her Ugandan community. “Indeed, it is not uncommon for girls to be withdrawn from school so that they can be married off.”
As a menstrual hygiene ambassador for the nonprofit Let Them Help Themselves (LTHT), Syson teaches girls in Uganda about their periods and challenges practices like forcing menstruating girls out of school to be married. With LTHT, Syson also addresses other beliefs that limit girls, such as girls on their periods should not be allowed to prepare food, milk cows or share a bed with siblings.
Myth: One in 10 girls in Africa miss school while on their periods.
Organisations frequently use this statistic to raise awareness about menstruation as a barrier to girls’ education — but it doesn’t have a source. Studies for individual countries exist and show that girls do miss school on their periods. However, there hasn’t been a continent-wide study to confirm the extent of the problem. To continue gaining momentum, the menstrual health movement needs recent, large-scale research about the effects of menstruation on school attendance and which solutions are the most effective in addressing these challenges.
“There isn't enough research yet on the issue to know exactly what combination of support is needed to help girls deal with the onset of menstruation without impacting education,” shares Malala Fund Research and Policy Manager, Lucia Fry.
“There isn’t enough research yet on the issue to know exactly what combination of support is needed to help girls deal with the onset of menstruation without impacting education.”
Myth: Menstruation should be kept a secret.
Did you know there are approximately 800 million girls and women on their periods every day? Half of the female population — approximately 26% of the global population — are of reproductive age. As common as it is, many communities still don’t discuss menstruation openly.
A recent study in Indonesia found that girls believing that menstruation should be kept a secret contributes to the rates of absenteeism in schools. Many migrant and refugee women consider menstruation a shameful topic and subsequently, don’t prepare their daughters for it. Organisations like We Need to Talk in Turkey start conversations with communities that traditionally don’t discuss menstruation and teach girls how to handle this change in their bodies.
(Courtesy of Puja Rai / Visible Impact)
Myth: Girls on their periods should be banished.
Menstruation is a natural process and there is no medical need for girls and women to be confined while on their periods. However, every month, menstruators in certain areas of the world isolate themselves because of stigma.
Nepali menstrual advocate Puja Rai explains that chhaupadi, the practice of forcing menstruating girls and women into seclusion, shattered her confidence as a teenager. “I never said how alone or how discriminated and excluded I felt for my so called ‘untouchable sins,’” she remembers. In Nepal, nearly 90% of girls face limited mobility or social exclusion during menstruation.
“Apart from causing serious diseases, lack of access to hygienic products restricts the mobility of women and girls. Hence, they miss out on school and work.”
Similar practices exist in India. 17-year-old student Snigdha shares that in rural areas of her home country, some families “don't allow menstruating girls to attend school due to stress and discomfort, and there are many more practices where the menstruating girl is isolated in a hut.”
With Visible Impact, Puja conducts school-based workshops for hundreds of girls and boys in Nepal to educate them that menstruation isn’t something shameful. She now proudly embraces her period. “I don’t hesitate to buy sanitary pads that have not been wrapped to hide its identity,” she shares. She hopes that through her work, every girl in Nepal will have the same confidence.
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