Break the Menstrual Taboo

In India, less than 10 percent of women and girls have access to sanitary products. Many are forced to seek alternatives, from old rags to newspapers. Credit: Stella Paul/IPSBy Tharanga YakupitiyageUNITED NATIONS, Mar 8 2019 (IPS)It is time to rise up and fight a long neglected taboo: menstruation.Marking International Women’s Day, United Nations human rights experts called on the international community to break taboos around menstruation, noting its impacts on women and girls’ human rights.“Persistent harmful socio-cultural norms, stigma, misconceptions and taboos around menstruation, continue to lead to exclusion and discrimination of women and girls,” the experts from various mandates from cultural rights to violence against women said in a joint statement.Among the experts is the Chair of the Working Group on discrimination against women in law and in practice Ivana Radačić who told IPS of the need to challenge the taboo. “Even in the human rights community, it is either thought of as not so important or people did not understand how much discrimination exists still,” she said. “We really feel that it is time to challenge the taboos and shame and to address the human rights issues that arise in respect to discrimination and stigma,” Radačić added. Period-ShamingAround the world, millions of women still lack access basic sanitary products to manage menstrual bleeding. In India, less than 10 percent of women have access to sanitary products. Many ar...
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