Period Poverty

 It is sad, how in Zimbabwe and many other African countries for a woman that poverty does not only end   with the lack of food, water and other basic commodities. Poverty stretches to women’s feminine hygiene. Period or sanitary poverty remains a challenge to many women especially for those living in rural areas.  With the economic crisis worsening everyday menstrual hygiene becomes even more difficult for girls and young women with parents who cannot afford sanitary pads or tampons. In most cases people are made to choose between food and sanitary wear with most of them choosing the latter which leaves many girls of menstruating age vulnerable.

According to a study conducted by SNV Zimbabwe seventy two percent of menstruating schoolgirls do not use sanitary pads because they cannot afford them. What is even more sad is that the production of sanitary wear in Zimbabwe is very low which makes them even more expensive for the general populace.  Period poverty results in girls in rural settings resorting to cow dung and rugs instead of pads and this puts them at a risk of contracting diseases such as cervical cancer and yeast infections. This does not only affect girls’ health but it also taints their dignity and strips them of their self-confidence.  In a bid to escape period poverty women end up using alternatives that do not offer comfort to their sensitive private areas nor do they offer the necessary absorbency properties found in sanitary ware as a result they end up leaking and spoiling their clothes which is a nightmare coupled with embarrassment for school going aged girls hence they end up absconding school during their menstrual periods.

Period poverty is not necessarily the unavailability of sanitary pads but it also stretches to the unavailability of clean underwear, lack of female friendly toilets, lack of proper facilities for disposing menstrual pads and easy access to medication that is aimed at alleviating period cramps. Giving a more elaborated view over the issue of a clean underwear is a problem that affects women especially those in rural areas. In most cases women in rural areas do not afford a decent number of underwear worse still a clean one for their menstrual periods. Underwear is expensive to buy and is considered a luxury by many.

Water crisis is also rampant in many dwellings of Zimbabwe meaning to say that many women may not have access to clean water during their periods and this is also poses yet another health hazard to women and girls. 

Some girls experience extreme severe period pain during their periods which requires medication for their period to be bearable. For others the pain even extends to headaches, stomach cramps and low back pain which is excruciating if not attended to medically. Accessing such medications is not a walk in the path for most women as they can not easily afford to part with money for usually overpriced pain killers. Most of them end up buying medication from untrusted or unregistered sources and this even poses a higher health threat to them.

Period poverty is compounded even worse by the lack female friendly ablution infrastructure. Most facilities do not have appropriate facilities for women to use when they are on their periods and this includes red bins where women can put their used sanitary ware. This results in women throwing their pads everywhere which is both an environmental and health hazard not to mention the scourge of rituals performed by women’s menstrual blood if evil people are to access these disused pads. Its even worse for women who belong to certain religious or cultural groups who believe that a woman’s blood should not be seen by anyone hence their used sanitary pads cannot be disposed anyhow. 

Women activists, non-governmental organizations and the government are playing a pivotal role in trying to end period poverty with some going an extra mile of donating reusable pads to incarcerated women and the less privileged, however that alone is not enough as the reusable pads will need clean water and underwear to fully serve their purpose as aforementioned this is a great challenge to most women.

With the harsh economic crisis in Zimbabwe, period poverty has also increased at an alarming rate hence there is need for various stakeholders to work tirelessly to fight this enemy that deprives women of their dignity. Toilet paper, condoms and other toiletries are supplied in public bathrooms so should feminine hygiene products.

Feministry!