Negative Discourse Relating to Menstruation in Africa

It is clear that natural biological processes such as menstruation may be experienced completely differently amongst women, based on their location. The harshness of this reality is something which is further diverging the inequality gap between genders, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. This is not least made worse by the regressive discourse surrounding the subject of menstruation in literature, which often fails to accurately portray a holistic representation of the matter. Gender and sex are two distinct aspects of our identity and therefore not accounting for others, such as transgender men who may also menstruate, means that the African population will be misrepresented and until our research reflects today's world and includes everyone, development will be undermined. We need to change perspectives and make sure that marginalised voices can be heard in order for community development to be centred around equality. 

Moreover, as menstruation indicates a certain level of sexual maturity, this results in young girls being sexually exploited in many situations, therefore compounding the urge for girls to keep quiet about menstruation. A recent study found that 22-38% of girls said they had experienced sexual exploitation or violence across Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, Eswatini, and Zimbabwe. 

Its time to talk about periods beyond gender (source) 

As well as this clear issue of gender and menstruation resulting in misrepresentation, there is also a critical problem surrounding school girls, particularly in rural areas, and menstruation, which often is resulting in them forgoing education for significant periods of time. Over 40% of women and girls interviewed in a 2014 study in Niger and Cameroon, stated that they missed school at least once a month as a direct result of menstruation. If girls are missing school often, they are less likely to obtain necessary qualifications needed to get a job, if they don't manage to get a job they won't have a stable income and this may result in poverty. The fact that such a natural human process can have this effect on lives in Africa is shocking, and the stigma around it being unclean is incredibly unhelpful. Progress can only be made once these stigmas are dropped and again, a new perspective is taken on the matter.