800 million women and girls are on their period right now - let's talk about it

800 million women and girls are on their period right now - let's talk about it
In Nepal, women can be confined to animal sheds. In India, girls are told they aren't allowed to leave home. Stop the stigma.
Tanya Barron
By Tanya Barron
October 11, 2017 00:01 BST

period emoji
Working in international development, I often reflect on the similarities and differences between societies in across the world. As is often pointed out, we have so much in common across countries and continents.

We tend to focus on the good things we all share – a love for our families, a desire to work hard, a determination to protect our children – but there are also things we have in common that are less worthy of celebration. Taboos, stigma and discrimination against girls and young women are one such universal trait. And while, little by little, we're making progress towards equality, there's one taboo that has stubbornly remained. It's time we talked about periods.

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Did you know that on any given day around 800 million women and girls are menstruating? It's a natural function of a woman's reproductive system that happens everything single month, and no, it's not exactly pretty. It's messy and painful; it can cause you to feel irritable and can disrupt your day, but the one thing it is not, and should not be, is cause for embarrassment.

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But globally, the stigma surrounding periods is causing real harm. Girls growing up all over the world face discrimination for something they have no control over and something that defines them as a woman.

In Nepal, women can be confined to animal sheds during their periods to keep 'impurity' out of the home. In India, girls are told they aren't allowed to leave home during their period and so miss out on school, and in Burundi, east Africa, myths around menstruation mean girls have to comply with beliefs such as the fear that bathing near shared utensils during menstruation can cause family members to die.

Yes, these are extreme examples, but they serve to highlight an everyday reality in which taboo and discrimination is something that girls worldwide have to live with. Periods are just one manifestation of a set of attitudes towards women and girls that are outdated and unjust. These same attitudes are behind practices including early marriage, denying a girl the chance to go to school, harassment in the street and inequality in the workplace.

And make no mistake: these attitudes exist here in the UK too. Ahead of International Day of the Girl this Wednesday, girls' rights charity Plan International UK spoke to 1,000 UK girls aged between 14 and 21 in the UK and found that nearly half (48 per cent) felt embarrassed by their period.