Menstrual health has defined as a situation of complete physical, mental and social health and not simply the absence of physical weaknesses regarding the menstrual cycle (Hennegan et al., 2021). This definition aligns with the WHO definition of health, which also emphasises access to accurate education on menstruation, personal care and hygiene, timely diagnosis and treatment for menstrual cycle-related pains, supportive and non-discriminatory environment, and social participation during menstruation. However, as an individual, do you think these standards are achievable?
Imagine yourself: Do you have comprehensive menstrual health education already? Do you able to take care of yourself when you are menstruating? Are your surroundings supporting you when you menstruate? Taboo and stigma around our menstruation persist!
Now, let us take you to a situation where floods happen, or in areas where there is no water due to droughts, or other situations in which natural disasters take place. What I can say, our menstrual health is indeed arduous to achieve. Floods, droughts, fires, extreme weather and natural disasters are examples of climate change-related events (Smith et al., 2014). Moreover, those events are highly ignored by us as if climate change is not real.
Nevertheless, climate change happens. The impact of climate change is real. The problem is that evidence-based research on the impact of climate change on women’s health, especially menstrual health, is limited. We notice several challenges in figuring out the links between the impact of climate change on our menstrual health, such as limited attention to menstrual health programmes in many countries, sensitive discussion around menstrual health and climate change, silo work between gender inequality and climate crisis as well as the lack of commitment from most stakeholders in realising climate justice (Alugnoa et al., 2022; Women Deliver, 2021). For me, it is imperative to penetrate the interconnection between the impact of climate change and menstrual health. Otherwise, ‘the period poverty’ will remain.
How does climate change perpetuate period poverty?
Climate change has negative impacts on all people, regardless of their gender. However, it disproportionally affects women and girls completely because of gender inequality. Climate change-related events that we discussed above can situate women and girls with unequal access to basic needs such as safe drinking water, safe sanitation, clean air, food security and housing (Women Deliver, 2021, emphasis added).
In the absence of climate-related phenomena, World Bank (2022) estimates that more than 500 million women and girls around the globe already encounter ‘period poverty’. The period poverty here refers to inadequate access to hygiene and sanitation facilities, lack of menstrual education and products, as well as persistent misconception and taboo around menstruation (Action Aid, 2022). In low-income settings, many women and girls do not have access to safe water and clean toilets. As a result, they have to walk far away from their houses to manage their hygiene and often defecate and manage their menstruation in open spaces. Additionally, patriarchal culture argues that menstrual blood is a disease, impure, and dirty. Therefore, women and girls are restricted from doing certain activities and consuming specific food and beverages, which leads to a lack of social and political participation and malnutrition (Babbar et al., 2022; Bobel et al., 2020; Kaur et al., 2018)
Furthermore, women are often blamed as contributors to the damaging environment due to the disposable menstrual products they use, without understanding the whole situation women face. Let us take a look at our country, Indonesia. Women and girls often dispose of their used disposable pads in a pit latrine, bury them in the ground, or discard them on river banks, which potentially spoil the environment and pollute the ocean and eventually will exacerbate climate change (Borunda, 2019; Kaur et al., 2018; WWF Australia, 2021).
Some women living in Flores Island, Indonesia, we interviewed in 2019 explained that they bury their used disposable pads on the ground because there is a belief that devils will follow them into the house if they do not bury them. Other women try to hide their reusable pads or underwear from men because it is a shame if men see pads or underwear hung outside the house. These examples show how the stigma around menstruation leads to improper treatments of used menstrual products that indirectly will be harmful to the environment. This inappropriate treatment is exacerbated by the lack of a waste management system throughout the country.
With such challenges, climate-related events leave extra pressures on women and girls to manage their menstruation safely, hygienically and with dignity (Husaini & Davies, 2022). For instance, during floods in Lembata, Indonesia, in 2020, many women and girls lost their houses and sanitation facilities, forcing them to defecate and manage their menstruation on the riverbank. In humanitarian settings where women and girls are not prepared for climate action, their needs tend to be overlooked.
Despite the crucial connection between the two issues mentioned above, there is limited research on menstrual health and climate alteration, let alone in the Indonesian context. The current critical research conducted by Women Deliver in 2021 focuses on exploring the connection between climate change and sexual reproductive health and rights (SRHR). The study argues that SRHR, gender equality and the climate crisis are inseparably connected. The climate crisis increases social inequalities and threatens the health and rights of women and girls globally. For instance, climate alteration has negative consequences on maternal health and perpetuates gender-based violence, including child marriage and limited access to SRHR services, particularly in humanitarian settings (Women Deliver, 2021).
Despite the similarity, the study does not discuss menstrual health as a single matter. The fact that menstrual health links to the water, sanitation and hygiene sector raise a serious question of whether the issue needs to be understood independently from SRHR in relation to climate change impacts. Moreover, another further question emerges if menstrual health management is imperative in climate action so that the climate movement does not exacerbate gender inequality.
With this article, we encourage researchers and non-governmental organisations at national and international levels to commit to researching the links between menstrual health and climate change, particularly in the Indonesian context. We do hope that many studies on this issue will support the proper intervention on menstrual health and eventually support women and girls in the most marginalised areas.
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