“Dignified menstruation is rooted in right to dignity, right to freedom, right to equality and right to non-discrimination. It means no matter whether menstruating persons are in the evacuation camp or refugee camp or camps for the war-affected population, or any climate or manmade disaster relief camps, we need to prioritize the needs and priorities of menstruators,” said Radha Paudel, a nurse and activist in Nepal. Radha founded the Global South Coalition for Dignified Menstruation.
Radha challenges the conventional definition of menstrual discrimination which is widespread globally in various forms. “Menstrual discrimination plays a vital role in construction of the unequal power relation, patriarchy and exclusion. It is the departure point when we talk about the climate justice or menstrual product or any kind of rights for menstruators. That is why, beyond the distribution of the menstrual pads or accessibility issues, we need to think of menstruators as a human being. Most of the policies, even at the village level, often missed counting the menstruators in all diversities. Most of the conventional form of assessment, only discuss about male and female, and not persons with disability or LGBTQI communities, for instance.”
Do not call it ‘sanitary’ pad but menstrual pad
“I am not saying ‘sanitary’ pad because our blood is clean – it is pure blood – that is why I call upon everyone to call it menstrual pad or menstrual product instead of ‘sanitary’ pad,” said Radha Paudel. “Distribution of free menstrual pad or menstrual product is dehumanized and colonized mindset. The entire planning process misses out the needs and priorities of menstruators. if we really like to ensure dignified menstruation, we need to realise that it is not only our right to dignity, but it is rather a composite outcome of the right to dignity, right to freedom, right to equality and right to non-discrimination.”
Radha was speaking at SHE & Rights session to mark International Day of Action for Women’s Health and Menstrual Hygiene, organised by Women’s Global Network for Reproductive Rights (WGNRR) and CNS with Global Center for Health Diplomacy and Inclusion (CeHDI), International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), Asian-Pacific Resource and Research Centre for Women (ARROW), and Asia Pacific Media Alliance for Health, Gender and Development Justice (APCAT Media).
Dignified menstruation is an enabler for sexual and reproductive health and rights
“We must expose structural obstacles by highlighting how macro-economic issues (inflation or climate change) manifest directly on the bodies of menstruating individuals. Achieving a period-friendly world is becoming radically more complicated today in this anti-rights and anti-gender era. We are living through a poly-crisis – a period defined by the simultaneous, overlapping pressures of runaway inflation, climate-induced disasters, supply chain disruptions, and systemic poverty,” said Shobha Shukla, coordinator and host of SHE & Rights campaign to advance gender equality and right to health – both of which are fundamental human rights and inseparable or indivisible.
“For the 500 million people globally, who experience period poverty every month, the poly-crisis has shifted menstrual hygiene from a basic healthcare right to an impossible financial trade-off. Families are increasingly forced to prioritize food and fuel over menstrual products,” said Shobha.
“Here in the Philippines, fires are rampant in summer months. When a fire broke out in an informal settlement, we asked the affected and displaced communities what the need was. One item which they mentioned was underwear. I can imagine if you are a person who is menstruating, and you lost everything that you had in a fire, of course you have to uphold your dignity. So, these things really affect the menstruators in a very visceral way,” said Joie Cortina, menstrual health and dignity advocate, and programme officer of Women’s Global Network for Reproductive Rights (WGNRR).
“When menstruators from a resource poor background are already struggling to afford commodities like food or medicines, crises like climate affect their bodies and wellbeing too, as well as their ability to make decisions about their bodies to advocate for themselves, and to demand for essential commodities including period commodities,” said Joie Cortina.
Similar situation in Indonesia. “In Indonesia, period poverty is driven mostly by financial constraint and inadequate infrastructures. Climate change crisis and inflation effects women and girls especially during their menstruation period,” said Rita Widiadana, gender and health justice advocate, and former Editor of The Jakarta Post.
“In such crisis situations, women and girls lost their safe spaces. They lost access to clean water and human dignity while facing increasing health risk. Indonesia had flooding, earthquake, conflicts where women and girls suffer in evacuation centres. Majority of girls who are living in low-income households, where sanitary pads is a luxury. When inflation comes, it means that the price of sanitary pads increases,” added Rita Widiadana.
“Relief efforts often neglect the needs of menstruating girls and women in difficult and challenging situations because they ‘think’ food, water and medicines are the ‘essential priorities’ and menstrual products are ‘unimportant.’ Reality is far from this because menstrual products are not non-essential but critical for menstrual hygiene and dignity,” stressed Rita Widiadana.
Menstrual products are NOT luxury items but essential products
“Inflation has affected not only African countries but globally and one direct impact is rising prices of menstrual products. Menstrual products are not luxury items. Ground reality for so many households is that a lot of those who are menstruating, are unable to afford the very essential menstrual products. So many families are confronted with the dilemma if they should buy food for the household or a sanitary pad for those who are menstruating. And in many families, it is not just one girl who is menstruating which compounds the price for menstrual products. This forces families to end up stretching the products beyond safe use. For example, a pad if it is to be used for 6-8 hours, we find many people using it for longer hours or even for the whole day. This injustice has increased the susceptibility of young girls to reproductive tract infections. Also, menstruating girls and women are often left with no choice but to resort to unsafe alternatives, such as socks, dried dung, among others, which increases their susceptibility to reproductive tract infections,” said Angel Babirye, President, African Youth and Adolescent Network East and Southern Africa (AfriYAN ESA), and CEO of Us for Girls Foundation, Uganda. “Girls are forced to miss school when they fail to access or afford menstrual products timely.”
Periods do not stop for wars or crisis
“We need to realise that periods do not stop for wars or humanitarian crisis situations. That is why we must integrate menstrual health in disaster preparedness plans. Menstrual health must not come as an ‘afterthought’ when we struck with disasters or crisis situations. It is not just about the pads because it is also about access to clean water, privacy and other essential needs of girls and women to feel safe and dignified. One acute need is to promote menstrual literacy. Also, we need to engage boys and men. If a menstruating person has period pain, it needs to be understood by everyone that it is real experience she and many others go through,” added Angel Babirye.
“In our experience, when it comes to preparing the menstrual dignity packs that will be distributed to families (affected by crisis), there is resistance to include sanitary pads or even underwear. It refers to the wrong idea that these commodities are ‘not essential’ and should not be prioritised like food or water. Menstrual products are NOT luxury products. Such harmful stereotypes affect the sense of dignity of menstruating individuals in crisis,” said Joie Cortina of WGNRR.
“We need to acknowledge the complex and multifaceted nature of the menstrual discrimination. It is not the single event or act. A range of perception and practices, which includes silence, taboo, stigma, restriction, abuses, violences and deprivation from resources and denial of services throughout the lifecycle of menstruators in all diversities. Unless we understand the complexity of menstrual discrimination, we cannot address menstruation or do lip service to ‘dignity,’” said Radha Paudel of Nepal.
“Because of menstrual discrimination, the menstruators may consider themselves as inferior, powerless and vulnerable whereas non-menstruators consider themselves as superior, powerful, and in control. Menstrual discrimination is reinforcing patriarchy and its unequal power relation and exclusion. Menstruating girls and women face this at homes, education system, and all along,” added Radha Paudel. “We need to seriously incorporate the dignified menstruation in all health, education, information, behavioural change communication. Since all of humanity is formed from blood and the womb, menstruation is life-affirming rather than a source of shame or impurity.”
Gender justice advocates welcome rebranding of PCOS to PMOS
In May 2026, the International PCOS Network, in collaboration with The Lancet, officially renamed Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) to Polyendocrine Metabolic Ovarian Syndrome (PMOS). “The old name misdiagnosed the condition as simply ‘ovarian cysts.’ PMOS is a complex, systemic hormonal and metabolic disorder affecting 1 in 8 women worldwide, directly driving insulin resistance, mental health struggles, and irregular bleeding,” said Shobha Shukla of SHE & Rights campaign and founder head of CNS.
Agrees Joie Cortina of WGNRR: “Historically the lived experiences of women, especially in the so-called hard sciences, have always been relegated to the sidelines. Like the symptoms and experience (of pleasure or pain of girls and women) have always been relegated to the sidelines, and deliberately unseen and unheard. This welcome shift from PCOS to PMOS is reflective of listening like providing menstruators with an epistemic privilege. It means that with this understanding, this is not just a gynaecological issue and give advocates like us knowledge of a more holistic approach to health.”
