In November, members of Women in International Relations (WIIR) met over zoom to discuss menstrual poverty. After opening with a short video on how inaccessibility to proper menstrual care affects people across cultures, we talked about the stigma surrounding both discussions about menstruation and how to pay for it.
For many, both education on menstruation and the accessibility of period products remain unattainable around the world. On top of that, the discussion of menstruation is often taboo. In order to facilitate conversations about access to and the price of pads, cups, and tampons, we must normalize menstruation, a normal bodily function that impacts half of the Earth’s population. During our discussion, we proposed that one way to destigmatize the conversation about menstruation and its prices is through open dialogue with our family members and friends. This bottom-up approach could create more spaces for people to highlight this important issue. However, we also need women and gender nonbinary people in government willing to advocate for peoples’ rights to menstruation products.
For WIIR, we hoped that by highlighting this important topic within our own small bubble on the Tufts campus we could do our part to create a safe space to share experiences learning about menstruation and access to products globally.