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Why Investing in Menstruation Matters to Education

Gender inequality in education persists, preventing millions of women and girls from achieving their full potential, despite significant progress over the past two decades. One of the most glaring manifestations of gender discrimination that females are forced to accept is unequal access to education all over the world. There are twice as many girls as boys who never go to school, according to research. Between the ages of 6 and 17, approximately 132 million girls do not attend school. This injustice is caused by a number of things, including poverty, unfavorable school environments, cultural and discriminatory factors, early marriage, and violence at school. There are strong indications that a girl’s first period influences the amount of education she receives in addition to these obstacles.

Women and girls who lack education are more likely to be victims of trafficking, exploitation, child marriage, and other harmful practices. Millions of girls are kept out of school each month when they are having their periods due to misinformation and a lack of resources for managing menstruation. This causes girls to look for unhygienic alternatives for pads, such as mattress fragments, torn clothing, and cow dung. Girls are frequently compelled to skip school because the cost of sanitary products is simply too high. Sanitary napkins can cost the equivalent of a full day’s pay in some nations, like Malawi. In a similar vein, sanitary pads are unaffordable to two-thirds of women and girls in Kenya.

Think about how you or someone you know might change if they couldn’t control their periods well. Think about how this might have affected your career, opportunities, and education. We must all act and make an investment in menstrual hygiene and health. We are educating women by holding monthly camps in remote areas and providing them with sanitary products. Each month, those camps in the remote villages help more than 360 women.

The Relationship Between Education and Menstruation A good high school education can change a girl’s life, but many adolescent girls all over the world skip school or even drop out for one simple reason: menstruation. There is a lack of scientific research on the connection between school absenteeism and menstruation. The widely cited statistic that “one in ten school-age girls in Africa misses school or drops out for reasons related to her period” is untrue because the claim cannot be proven and has received little support over time. The physical pain, discomfort, and unfavorable school environments that girls face when managing their menstruation in schools are the first obstacles they face. Girls may find it challenging to attend school during their period if they do not have access to sanitary facilities and products.

Additionally, school-related violence and social and cultural discrimination can increase school absenteeism. Girls may not be allowed to leave the house when they are menstruating in societies where it is considered taboo, or they may remain at home out of shyness, embarrassment, or fear of being bullied or injured. Parents may question the value of girls’ education if their daughters miss school during their periods.

During their period, girls face difficulties due to a lack of privacy and inadequate toilet doors or cubicles in many European nations. Due to a lack of access to period products, 84% of teenage girls who menstruate have missed class or know someone who has missed class. Menstrual inequity is an undeniable driver of school absenteeism, but that’s not all. In India, 23% of girls drop out of school due to a lack of access to toilets and sanitary pads. Inadequate bathroom facilities, shame, and stigma also have a negative impact on their attendance at school and worsen overall educational outcomes. Help us build a better world where every girl and woman can go to school, pursue their dreams, and walk the path to their best and brightest futures without having to worry about menstruation.

Contribute to making low-cost hygiene products accessible to all Women’s incomes, school and work absenteeism, and lives are saved. Access to menstrual products is severely restricted by affordability, particularly for low-income women. Thousands of women, girls, and menstruating individuals worldwide lack access to safe sanitary products, putting their health and safety at risk. In Kenya, menstrual products are unavailable to 65 percent of women. A survey of low-income women in the United States reveals that nearly two thirds of them couldn’t afford menstrual hygiene products like tampons or pads in the previous year.

About half of the world’s population has to deal with menstrual hygiene for up to 30 years. For decades, the management of menstrual health has relied heavily on the utilization of disposable feminine sanitary napkins; In the United States alone, an estimated 20 billion sanitary napkins, tampons, and applicators are disposed of annually. This is a component of the issue: We developed and tested a new jute pad because they are not biodegradable. Biodegradable sanitary pads made from the jute plant are the goal of the project.

We hope to make a contribution to the cause of providing basic sanitary products to all women through this project. We envision a world in which no girl skips school due to her period. Let’s bring this to life. A woman can become more independent and less reliant on her family or other support systems with education. By supporting not only her mental freedom but also her financial freedom, this helps to close the social class gap and improves her well-being. A well-educated girl child raises the literacy rate of the nation and contributes to economic expansion. It would have a significant impact not only on individual women, girls, and their families but also on entire nations and the global economy as a whole if period poverty and stigma were eradicated worldwide.

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