Effect Of COVID PANDEMIC On MENSTRUAL HYGIENE
-Ecenur
Menstruation is the phenomenon that most women experience all around the world.The
experience is yet not the same for all of them.There are multiple factors which affect the
experience of menstruation for women.One of the factors is the taboo that menstruation
exposes in the country.Some women sadly cannot express themselves freely on menstruation
because of being taboo in the country.In addition to this,women are exposed to gender
inequality in their countries thereby leading them to not have freedom of expression enough
in terms of menstruation management. Another challenge that women face during
menstruation period is lack of water supply or the sources within the country .It influences
the menstrual hygiene that reduces the menstrual quality of women so the situation becomes
aggravated for the women.Therefore both social restrictions and the sources of the country
affects management of menstruation.In recent times,with the covid pandemic ,the
management of menstrual hygiene was exacerbated. This text aims to explain how
menstrual hygiene during covid pandemic affected gender inequality women experience in
their countries.
According to estimation;1.8 billion girls, women, and gender non-binary people menstruate
in the world.Howerver, millions of them across the world cannot manage their monthly
menstuation in a healthy way.This is due to gender inequality, discriminatory social norms,
cultural taboos, poverty and lack of basic services often cause menstrual health and hygiene
that still become neglected.(Unicef,2020).During Covid pandemic, it was inherent that the
COVID-19 had multiple impacts on girls’ and women’s ability to manage their menstruation
and their health. The effects differ from country to country and its ability to respond through
social protection and health system.The most influenced by Covid pandemic in terms of
menstrual hygiene are the countries which were the poorest and weakest to economic and
social shocks.(Unicef,2020). The impacts of Covid Pandemic on Menstrual hygiene can be
stated as disruption in the production and distribution of menstrual hygiene supplies due to
physical distancing measures in factories, repurposing of manufacturing plants to produce
personal protective equipment, restrictions on import and ground transport and closures.In
addition to this,Insufficient menstrual hygiene facilities and supplies to manage menstruation
with privacy in health care facilities, quarantine and isolation centers and at home have
caused women to experience severe challenges during their menstrual periods.Moreover,Girls
and women hospitalized or in quarantine centers for COVID-19 had also lack of access for
washing their hands and menstrual hygiene supplies.Furthermore,Gaps in provision of water
and sanitation service, such as disruption of safe water supply or due to increased costs driven
by scarcity of supply during Covid which challenged lives of women in terms of
menstruation management.(Unicef,2020).
Apart from this,while women experienced such difficulties due to Covid pandemic,they are
also exposed to gender inequality and bias which have aggravated the menstrual hygiene
problem during the pandemic.For instance,Women and girls have to satisfy severe extra
requirements for privacy when they use wash facilities, due to patriarchal norms of female
modesty and cultural as well religious taboo on menstruation. In other words, the pandemic
has exacerbated existing gendered barriers to wash access that create unique wash and
menstrual hygiene management challenges for women and girls every
day(Benini,2021).Therefore,women are exposed more inequality on menstrual hygiene
which has brought duplicated challenged for them during the covid pandemic.
To conclude,the Covid 19 led to multiple challenges for the women.It exacerbated the access
of wash which is essential for menstrual hygiene .In addition to this,women and girls had to
have extra requirements for privacy when they use wash facilities, due to patriarchal norms
of female modesty and taboo on menstruation.Therefore,it can be stated that Covid 19
deteriorated the problem which was already exist and challenging for women experiencing
gender inequality in their countries .
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Bibliography
UNICEF.(2020).“UNICEF Brief Mitigating the impacts of COVID-19 and menstrual health
and hygiene” UNICEF.Available at
https://www.unicef.org/media/95496/file/UNICEF-Brief-Mitigating-the-impacts-of-COVID-
19-on-menstrual-health-and-hygiene.pdf
Benini,D.(2021). “The gendered impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on women and
girls”WaterAid. Available at
https://washmatters.wateraid.org/blog/the-gendered-impacts-of-the-covid-19-pandemic-on-w
omen-and-girls
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