Menstrual Management among school girls in Uganda

During menstruation girls and women face both practical and strategic gender problems. These have negative impacts for their personal lives and development opportunities: restrictions on work and mobility, increased fears and tensions, early marriage, early and premature childbirth and higher infant mortality, and potential vaginal infections resulting in the worst case in infertility.

In many cultures, the onset of menstruation means coming of age and therefore has big consequences for young girls. Apart from that there is the hygiene side which if not properly addressed can have horrific consequences. One of the impacts is the lower class attendance of girls during menstruation days and school drop-out at the onset of menstruation.

Based on the literature review, surveys show 33%-61% increase in absence due to lack of menstrual hygiene provisions. However, intervention studies show both insignificant and significant differences in class attendance. The reason behind this may be due to different means of recording intervening factors such as water, sanitation and privacy conditions in primary schools and at home, distance to school and attitudes of teachers and parents.

For many years now, the global education community, ranging from UNICEF, World Bank to local organisations, have noted the challenges of puberty for adolescent girls, and specifically the need for girl-friendly water and sanitation facilities in primary schools. Although anecdotal stories, from field projects, and articles in newsletters from local women’s groups express concern over the issue of schoolgirls and sanitation, still too little empirical data exists that captures girls’ actual experiences and concerns. Understanding the reality of girls’ experiences of sanitation and schooling is critical to addressing the continuing challenge to meet their specific needs in an effective and resource-feasible manner. A deeper understanding of girls’ daily struggles, and rationale behind proposed solutions, is essential to engaging policy makers who can enact legislation and make resources available at school level.

The implication of these findings is that menstrual hygiene affects the majority of adolescent girl pupils in school and this can potentially reflect that their ultimate educational performance will not be optimal. Girls express fear, shame, distraction and confusion, besides physical discomfort, as feelings associated with menstruation. These feelings are largely linked to a sense of embarrassment, concerns about being stigmatized by fellow pupils and as teachers explained, a perception that the onset of menstruation signals the advent of girl’s sexual status.