In Uganda, we found that around 50 percent of girls are missing school several days every month because of their periods, reports Anna Dahlqvist in her book It’s Only Blood.
“In studies in which the students explain why they do not go to school, the same reasons are repeated: fear of leakage. The smell. Shame in general. They have nowhere to change menstrual protections or to wash themselves. Nowhere to throw away menstrual products,” Dahlqvist writes.
“What happens when menstrual shame clashes with poverty?” she asks. “Continuous human rights violations follow in the tracks of menstrual shame. Violations of the right to freedom and dignity. The right to equality. The right to education, health and work.”