By Yaye Hélène Ndiaye, Founder and Director of KITAMBAA and Yacine Djibo, Founder and Executive Director of Speak Up Africa.
The COVID-19 pandemic has plunged the world into deep economic crisis and deepened inequalities. Among those most affected: women and girls, especially those living in vulnerable situations in low and middle income countries. While COVID-19 has exacerbated gender inequalities, many of us – activists and agencies working on gender and development issues – have joined forces to advocate for gender equality and rights. women.
A debate on the management of health and menstrual hygiene upstream of the Generation Equality Forum in Dakar dedicated to gender equality.
Managing menstrual health and hygiene is a daily part of the life of nearly half of the world’s population. For women and girls, having access to the conditions necessary for good menstrual health and hygiene is a fundamental right and a key marker of progress. Today, around 800 million girls and women are menstruating around the world. Despite this, a third of them do not have access to clean water, sanitation facilities and quality hygiene products to manage their periods safely and effectively. In Senegal alone, women lose up to 45% of their income during the average five days of menstruation, 40% of girls aged 9 to 17 miss school at least once a day week during their period. Thus, there is a school dropout rate of 7.7% among girls of menstruation age. More needs to be done to make menstrual hygiene and health issues a priority at all levels.
In order to encourage the commitment of decision-makers and communities, many associative initiatives are being set up in Senegal. As proof, the advocacy organization Speak Up Africa and the social enterprise KITAMBAA are implementing concrete actions aimed at promoting better management of menstrual health and hygiene as part of the La Francophonie avec Elles initiative to support the women of Sandiara during this difficult time. Endowed with unprecedented means, this fund finances actions on the ground allowing women and girls to access economic development, education, health, a healthy environment, citizenship and training.
So tomorrow, ahead of the Generation Equality Forum ** which will be held in Paris from June 30 to July 2 and a variation in Dakar on July 1, KITAMBAA and Speak Up Africa have organized a panel * bringing together key players committed to the improvement of the living conditions of women and girls. The panel invited Martine Diome, President of the Federation of Women’s Promotion Groups of Sandiara, Dr Serigne Guèye Diop, Mayor of Sandiara, Ndèye Mingué Gacko, Coordinator of the Gender Unit at the Ministry of Health and Social Action, and Arame Gueye, Executive Director of Social Change Factory. Its objective was to take stock of the state of public policies, funding and practices in health and menstrual hygiene over the past decade. In addition, it was also intended to sensitize local authorities in the development and advocacy for the adoption of public policies that support Menstrual Hygiene Management.
This Forum will discuss concrete and lasting commitments in favor of equality between women and men. While globally women are increasingly successful in achieving political office, they represent only 23.7% of the staff in national parliaments, a far cry from parity. While in 46 countries, women now hold more than 30% of seats in the national parliament in at least one chamber.
Seeing the world through an intersectional feminist lens would mean recognizing the existence of overlapping systems of discrimination that are based on multiple markers of social identity, such as gender, race, class or disability. Thus, many women and young girls continue to face difficulties in managing their menstruation in their daily life such as access to water, the inability to buy hygiene products or the trauma of the first experience of their rules. Even before the pandemic, gender inequality, discriminatory social norms, cultural taboos, poverty and lack of access to basic sanitation services and infrastructure contributed to this health needs. and menstrual hygiene are neglected. Today, the impact is even more devastating.
While it may take time to tackle the psychological and societal elements of this situation, there are ways to support women. The campaign “Menstrual hygiene management: from taboo to economic power” aims to strengthen the capacity of women to develop income-generating activities, to encourage the authorities to implement public policies and to improve knowledge. by freely sharing information. These initiatives are essential for women and girls to manage their periods with dignity, but they are only the first step.
To ensure real progress and real growth, we must also break the taboos that surround the rules in family and school circles, and actively involve young people, especially boys and men to sensitize them and invite them to speak out on these questions. A multisectoral approach is crucial – after all, menstruation affects every aspect of a woman’s life. Governments, civil society organizations, NGOs and communities must be included in these conversations. While menstruation was once considered “a woman’s business,” it is no longer the case; they are everyone’s business.
We must remember that the empowerment of women also contributes to the development of our societies and ensures that we can all progress and grow together. We must continue to look to the future.
By supporting initiatives aimed at improving the status of women, we encourage progress.
Let’s break the taboos related to menstruation! and end the gender inequality that prevents our world from reaching its full potential.
