Menstruation

Menstruation is a natural process of the female body that signals health and childbearing capacity. Every menstruator has the right to be independent and self-determined without suffering from underlying hierarchies and restrictive practices. Our vision is to help women live their lives in independence, self-determination and freedom of choice. Only a change of Mindset of everyone, can make this vision become reality. 

In Nepal, girls and women struggle every month to manage their menstruation hygienically, safely and with dignity. In the Far Eastern and Midwestern regions of Nepal, menstruating women are considered untouchable, dirty and impure due to the cultural and religious traditions. Some of them being isolated from their families for the duration of their period and must sleep in cow sheds. In the rest of the country the restrictions are less severe, but the vast majority of Nepalese women are still discriminated during their period. Many menstruating women are not allowed to enter the kitchen or touch food.   

This negative stigmatization, in combination with the lack of availability of menstrual products, in many places means that the period for countless Nepalese girls and women becomes a monthly recurring degrading and undignified agony. Many women are forced to use unsanitary alternatives such as dirty rags, especially in remote areas. In addition, the school curriculum contains too little information on the biological cycle of menstruation, making it difficult for adolescent girls to find viable information.  

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