Funding provided by: CIDA-SIGEP
Some problems facing developing countries that can seem impossible to solve, may in fact have simple solutions that with the necessary funds, can be implemented effectively. AFAWI-Ghana ran a research project to investigate the issue of African girls missing out on their education due to poor menstrual practices. They found that girls’ lives and educational prospects can be drastically improved, simply by providing them with feminine products and installing incinerators on school grounds.
For decades, menstruation has contributed to the social exclusion and disempowerment of African girls. Although something that all women experience, many African girls do not know enough about the natural process that their bodies will go through during menstruation. They are also not taught how to practice healthy and safe menstrual management and they lack adequate facilities at school. This leads to girls dreading their period, feeling ashamed and insecure and often forces them out of the classroom, to the comfort of their homes. In fact, UNICEF estimates that one in ten school-age African girls skip school during menstruation, or drop out at puberty because of the lack of clean and private sanitation facilities in schools.
In order to better understand the issue and to find a solution, AFAWI-Ghana carried out a research based project in three junior high schools, with the aim of promoting female empowerment through healthy menstrual management and support.
We found that most of the female students in the Babato-Kuma L/A Junior High School, Kurabaso L/A JHS and Abilba Number 1 JHS were not using sanitary pads during their monthly cycles, so AFAWI organized a program to distribute pads to the girls for a year. This simple provision of sanitary pads was so crucial to these teens’ lives; they no longer felt that they had to hide from their peers and felt more confident speaking up in class and participating in classroom activities. We also fitted incinerators so feminine products could be disposed of properly, showing the girls that menstruation is manageable once the right facilities are provided.
Perhaps the most important aspect of women’s self empowerment is the openness of communication and education about women’s issues. The AFAWI project promoted open discussion about the menstrual process, not only with the girls but also with the boys at the schools. It was important to include the males students in the discussions about such an important social issue because it encourages both girls and boys to work together towards gender equality. The male students learnt about what their female peers go through, and the girls were helped to understand their bodies and the importance of menstrual health, as well as making them feel more comfortable discussing their insecurities with their female and male peers.
Girls do not need to suffer every time they have their period and AFAWI’s project shows that simple but effective changes can improve the educational prospects of girls in Africa. African governments need to pay more attention to serious social and public health issues and they must act in order to prevent the disadvantage that girls face in education. African youth is the future of African development; girls and boys must stay in school to reach their full intellectual potential in order to contribute to community and nation-building in Africa.
