The Bleeding Continent
A look into how period poverty affects African women and girls
A perspective from the west
Period poverty, as defined by Action Aid UK, is a global issue wherein several women and girls are unable to access safe, hygienic menstrual products and/or are unable to manage their periods with dignity. This is sometimes due to community stigma and sanction.
Period poverty is not a new topic of discussion in the West. In fact, over the past few years, many campaigns have been started to achieve the common goal of breaking period stigma and aiding women and girls affected by this phenomenon.
This has led to great strides being made with examples such as; the period products free provision Scotland bill in 2018 and England providing all state-maintained schools with period products in early 2020.
Amika George, founder of Free Periods, a period poverty campaign which is attributed as a huge game player in the government’s decision to provide free period products*
A perspective from Africa
Worldwide, about 130 million girls are out of secondary school due to factors which include a lack of access to sanitary products. More specifically, a 2016 study by Human Rights Watch estimated that one in ten African girls missed school during menstruation. The problem of is two-fold – cultural and question of access/affordability to the necessary resources
With this being said, it may seem that making sanitary products free would drastically reduce that number and get more girls back in classes.
Unfortunately, this is not the case when we look at period poverty from the perspective of African nations. Being unable to afford these products, a lot of girls turn to use old clothing items, tissues and leaves. In the worst-case scenario, they might find themselves sharing these products which are not properly sanitised between uses. The continuous use of these unsanitary items put many African girls at high risk of infections and diseases.
Alongside a lack of menstrual products, several schools in Nigerian and Ghana have reported having insufficient toilets with subpar structures of privacy and inadequate disposal systems. These and other menstruation-related factors create a disparity in the way girls in the west and girls in Africa are affected by period poverty.
Other factors that buttress period stigma, therefore making it difficult to discuss period poverty solutions, include cultures and religions that might view girls on their periods as dirty and unclean. In discussion with my Algerian friend, she disclosed that “we are not allowed to use tampons in my household as that contributes to penetration and speaking about periods in my home is definitely a taboo”.
It is important to note that this is the experience of a single person and that cultures within the continent vary from country to country and household to household.
I say all this to let it be known that in fighting period poverty in Africa, we are not only tackling the prices of sanitary products but actively fighting the underlying oppressive structures in our society that aim to hold back women.
#MyAlwaysExperience
We cannot undermine the use of social media in amplifying the issue at hand. In addition to this, social media also puts pressure on menstrual product providing companies to make sustainable changes to their products and support all their consumers by joining the fight.
An example of this is #EndPeriodPovertyby Always, a company which is known globally for their menstrual products.
Usually, I would applaud companies for making such strides of support but then came #MyAlwaysExperience, an online movement started by women in Kenya in 2019. These women took to Twitter to complain about their experiences with itching and burning when using Always period pads. A number of them even suggested that there is a difference between the pads they sell in the west and those they sell in Africa; these statements were made after testing both products and noting the differences.
This movement created a storm and many more women from all over the continent started to share their uncomfortable experiences when using these supposedly ‘sanitary’ products.
It begs the question on whether this multi-millionaire company could possibly be sending defected products into Africa or whether* the company made as much effort (as they do in the west) to double-check the standards before having them distributed.
In response to this uproar, KEBS, the Kenya Bureau of Standards, examined these products and found them to be okay for use. Always Kenya also dispelled claims that pads distributed across the country were different by sharing the materials and process involved in making the pads.
However, many online users were rightfully angry about their reactions to the products. Following this, many of those within the movement asked that the complaints of Always’ African consumers be taken seriously and for a change to be made regarding the standards of the products being distributed within the continent.
Doing the work to make a change
After doing some research into period poverty in Africa, I was left with mixed feelings. Although we haven’t yet progressed as much as I would have hoped in terms of supporting all the girls (it is difficult to reach girls in remote areas), it is important to note that it wasn’t all bad news.
In contribution towards the efforts to end period poverty, Rwanda decided in 2019 to remove VAT from sanitary products to make them more affordable and therefore accessible to girls. The country has now joined Kenya and Tanzania in removing this tax from menstrual products. I know that this isn’t the solution, but it is a start for many.
Seeing all this, I was pushed to find ways to support my community in any way that I could. I, in turn, started an online campaign and community called On Your Reds hoping to use this to reach out to the girls that were not being prioritised as a part of the cause and also to highlight and support campaigns for Africans and by Africans.
You too can make a difference, here a few campaigns that you can support from your home
1. ACT Ulemu Project
The African Child Trust started the Ulemu Project in Malawi to “empower the girl child with knowledge on menstrual health hygiene and sanitation through education and provision of reusable sanitary pads so they can remain in school during menstruation”.
The making of these sustainable reusable pads provides jobs for widows therefore also supporting the mothering group of the community.
2. Sanitary Aid for Nigerian Girls (S.A.N.G)
This initiative was started in 2017 to support the population of Nigerian girls without access to sanitary products. They provide free sanitary products (not exclusive to menstrual products) to “girls from low-income families across public schools in Nigeria and girls in Internally Displaced Persons Camps across the country”.
3. CouldYou? Cup
This is an initiative to find sustainable solutions to the issue of period poverty. They currently do work by distributing the CouldYou? Cup to marginalised girls around the world.
There are some hesitations around donating menstrual cups as they are not as easy to use as pads and need to be properly sanitised. However, the CouldYou? Cup team also help to educate these young girls on how to properly use these products.