As laudable as is the idea of setting a day aside annually to raise awareness of pertinent issues across communities, it dampens the heart that attention wanes after the day and everybody goes back to routine. New issues that crop up to complicate existing ones might not get the necessary attention until the year rounds up again. That is the sure path to regression. Maintaining the conversation on pertinent issues might expedite sustainable progress. It has rightly been stressed that menstruation poverty requires constant national dialogue. In the June 13, 2022 edition of the Daily Graphic, one Rebecca Kwei urged Ghanaians to maintain the conversation on menstruation.
In her September 23
article, Miss Ajoa Yeboah-Afari reiterated the call for continuous engagement
on the topic in her Thoughts of a Native Daughter column in The Mirror. The writers
approach the topic of menstruation poverty from different angles but converge on
the theme of dropping import taxes on sanitary napkins to enhance affordability
for all girls. They also advocate free distribution of period products to reduce
girls’ school absenteeism.
Being a body
function rooted in utmost female intimacy, the slightest concession on
menstruation implies a violent disruption of privacy. Even in a girls’
dormitory, dressing under watchful eyes of other girls raised the self-consciousness
of a girl in her cycle. Every girl knows her cycle, so quantity of pads sent to
school matched the length of a term. However, the biological make-up could go
whacky at will and create shortage for a girl. Even on those rare occasions, asking
(a) closest friend(s) for supplementary pad was done unobtrusively. In
retrospect, those were privileged situations in the 80s.
Soiling self remains a most embarrassing situation for
a girl, even to traumatic dimensions. Therefore, the discussion on menstrual
hygiene/health should be wrapped in a cloud of utmost sensitivity and respect,
not be warped by mercenary motives. Help should neither be intrusive nor patronizing
but rather epitomize affirmation of female dignity. Conversely, Girls need courage
to own their menstruation to avert various forms of female degradation.
There have been several calls to government to reduce
various taxes on imported sanitary materials to create equity in accessibility.
Others advocate free distribution of pads. Some advocates will like a review of
VAT on locally manufactured pads. Magnanimous points but some have potential to
deepen the disturbing dependency psyche which remains the root of national
retrogression.
Therefore, the conversation must also be driven by
current, raving economic reality. Considering the high birth rate, high female
numbers and the early commencing of menarche, sanitary material demand will maintain
a constant rising curve. In such critical times of escalating national debt and
inflation, is it realistic to feed a dependency culture around menstruation and
hope for sustainability?
The role of Parents
Parental responsibility in handling menstruation
poverty must never be glossed in targeted period conversations. Any agency
involved in the advocacy must consistently prompt parents about their primary
role in providing for their dependent daughters. The fact that their neglect
has potential to hurl girls into the arms of unscrupulous males, with potential
consequences of unwanted pregnancy and premature birth, which deepens family
poverty ought to interest neglectful parents. The reasoning that it is less costly
to provide menstruation materials for their girl children than have a whole human
addition to the family should also never be spared such parents. Responsible
childbirth should be harped.
NGOs and other menstrual hygiene advocacy groups could
rope in the Social Welfare for collaboration to heighten parental education
that providing menstrual material is part of the latter’s maintenance
responsibility. Minors should be able to report parents who renege on that
responsibility to the Social Welfare. There ought to be some gentle
penalization, such as counselling or a fine to the tune one sanitary pack, for
delinquent parents who compromise their daughters’ dignity. A sense of
accountability also constitutes effective solution.
Ownership through education
The best support for girls is the one that helps them
to take ownership of their menstruation, not one which emphasizes their poverty
status. Weaning girls from the dependency mentality is also a crucial part of
the solution. An NGO in Uganda helps girls to make reusable sanitary napkins. How
about targeting that through Creative Arts and Social Skills subjects at the
basic and secondary levels respectively in Ghana? Production materials could be
explored through inter-disciplinary collaboration.
Exploring the current practical-based curriculum
concept to teach lifelong skills in designing and producing sanitary napkins locally,
by girls, would constitute the most sustainable form of empowerment. Such a
move is arguably pragmatic: Government might be compelled by a struggling
economy to uphold existing taxes on menstruation materials or put a cap on the
period of tax freeze. Corporate bodies will always be motivated by profit, not
by girl needs. If a cross-section of the neediest can be helped to self-produce
sanitary napkins, it would not only dignify them but also set some of them on a
possible career path. A do-it-yourself approach is a much viable option for
exploration.
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