Blog by Marie Christine Gries, SI Representative at UNESCO in Paris
AN ISSUE ON GENDER EQUALITY
In 2014, the United Nations established an International Menstrual Hygiene Day on the 28th of May, the fifth month of the year (a date that is easy for women to decipher, as it symbolises the average 28-day menstrual cycle and 5-day period length).
On 28 May 2025, in Yamoussoukro Houphouët Boigny Foundation in Ivory Coast, this day was celebrated on the initiative of the Voix des Filles Côte d’Ivoire NGO group (including Soroptimist), in the presence of high-level local political and administrative officials. This celebration is not unique, but it is still rare. It is devoted to raising public awareness and constructive reflection on the specific problems of women’s health and hygiene, educational issues and the fight against sexist prejudices relating to menstruation, which undermine gender equality.
Menstrual hygiene is a universal health problem.
Menstrual pain is generally considered normal, without care, regardless of its intensity – however, this is just one common misconception among many others. For example, young women experiencing their first periods are expected to “get used to it” – even to endure dysmenorrhea, the excessive pain that can make daily life more difficult. This pain is sometimes framed as preparation for childbirth. Yet, such pain can and should be treated. It may also be a sign of more serious conditions like endometriosis, which remains widely under-diagnosed
In many low-income regions, disposable menstrual products are often prohibitively expensive. As a result, women and girls often rely on makeshift materials at home, without access to basic hygiene guidance. This lack of proper menstrual hygiene can lead to infection.Access to clean water is a major challenge for women and girls, especially during menstruation, when more water is needed for personal hygiene and washing.
This is a Social and Gender Equality Issue
In many countries, girls-only toilets are rare in schools – and in some cases, even basic toilet facilities are lacking altogether. There are very few dedicated spaces—such as infirmaries or rest areas—where girls can manage severe menstrual pain in privacy and comfort.
As a result of pain, inadequate facilities, or persistent taboos, many girls are forced to miss up to five days of school each month, making it difficult to keep up with their studies and achieve good academic results.
Additionally, the function and role of menstruation is a subject that is rarely explained in advance to girls at this stage of their development. Common taboos inhibit mothers and educators who should be teaching girls the meaning and management of this major stage in their lives towards adulthood. In Africa, the average age of menarche is between 9 and 11, and 66% of these girls are not aware of this milestone.
In the absence of adequate sexual and reproductive health education, how many adolescent girls could become pregnant without fully understanding how or why? Some are subjected to sexual violence or coercion—experiences they may not even recognise as assault due to a lack of information and support. Often stigmatised and abandoned by their families, these young mothers may be left to navigate pregnancy and parenthood alone.
Equally, it is important to educate and inform teenage boys, many of whom are also unaware of the consequences associated with sexual relationships.
Preconceived ideas and prejudices about menstruation are widespread, having developed over centuries from ignorance—and even a refusal to understand—how the female reproductive system works. Menstruation is often viewed negatively, associated with impurity, uncleanliness, original sin, or even witchcraft. It is treated as a sign of female inferiority and a marker of women’s supposed biological weakness. Across centuries and cultures – with few exceptions – menstruation has been the justification for bullying and prohibitions, under a veil of shameful silence, a false modesty that confines the subject to ‘women’s business’, a way of evading the question of eliminating the taboos, superstitions and prejudices perpetuated on this natural function vital to humanity.
Prejudices and taboos about menstruation, along with the temporary exclusion of women during their periods, continue to penalise schoolgirls, students, and many women in both their personal and professional lives. These misconceptions limit opportunities, reinforce stigma, and undermine gender equality across multiple areas of life.
We must celebrate Menstruation Day to put things back in their rightful place: to educate, to develop good practices, to bring down this degrading cultural edifice of beliefs, negative prejudices, and misconceptions.
The time has come to end the silence around menstruation. Ensuring access to menstrual health and education is not just a matter of hygiene, it is a matter of rights, equality and justice.
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