Diagnóstico del cumplimiento de los requisitos de la norma OHSAS 18001:20

Menstrual hygiene management has been brought into focus as a global public health problem by research that has highlighted the first-hand complications girls are facing in relation to menstrual health and participate in education (Sommer, et al, 2015). As mentioned, previous menstrual poverty research has focussed focus largely on poorer countries where economic barriers create access to proper menstrual hygiene management, including the cost of sanitary items, but also poor access to water, sanitation and disposal facilities (Crichton, et al. 2013; Jewitt & Ryley, 2014; Secor-Turner, et al. 2016; Sommer, 2009; Sommer, 2010; Sommer, et al. 2015a). These adverse conditions set the baseline for complications around menstruation at school. Not only is this a potential interruption to girl’s active participation in their everyday lives (e.g., schooling attendance, participation in sports), but it also adds an additional element of shame and a barrier to menstruation-related communication (Jackson & Falmange, 2013). To date there is a gap in New Zealand based research on school girls in similar positions, such as research into girls taking time off school due to menstruation and also younger girls access to disposal facilities as onset of menses starts occurring at a younger age. My study aims to address this research gap.

Experiences of menstrual poverty also occur against the backdrop of pervasive social taboos related to menstruation, as illustrated above. Qualitative studies in Kenya, Nairobi, and Tanzania have investigated the perspectives of young women in relation to challenges with menstrual hygiene management. These studies seek to show how everyday geographies of menstruation and puberty reflect and reproduce inequalities. Research contexts include gendered school attendance and broader life chances (Crichton, et al. 2013; Jewitt & Ryley,

2014); the impact of menstruation on daily lives (Secor-Turner, et al. 2016); and needs of pubescent girls in the education system (Sommer, 2009; Sommer, 2010). School attendance may be affected as girls stay at home while menstruating due to poor menstrual hygiene management (MHM). For instance, in a rural Uganda study 90.5 percent of the participants did not have adequate MHM (Hennegan, et al, 2016). While in Kenya, Girod, et al (2017) found schools had only one toilet to every 45 pupils, failing to reach policy guidelines of one toilet to every 25 girls. Thus, adversely impacting ability to impact menstruation in school.

Girl’s poor school attendance may be compounded by widespread support for traditional gender norms that lead to differing sets of gendered educational expectations that favour boys over girls (Crichton, et al. 2013). Research found boys were encouraged to attend school for longer periods, while also performing educationally higher in the long-term due to better attendance (Jewitt & Ryley, 2014). These findings echo research in other contexts which points to the stigma associated with menstruation in general, and menstrual poverty in particular (Jackson & Falmange, 2013; Johnson-Robledo & Stubbs, 2013; Kissling, 1996; and Crichton, et al, 2013).

Alongside the taboo of menstruation, there is stigma associated with living in a position of poverty (Hudson, 2016). These two socially unfavourable factors intersect to cause a compromising position for girls who are unable to afford sanitary items, because they cannot effectively conceal their menstrual bleeding or regulate the ‘freshness’ they are relentlessly expected to embody (Jewitt & Ryley, 2014). Due to the double stigma of menstrual poverty, research on the topic is challenging, particularly in developed contexts where girls and women may rarely admit to being in this position. While there is a severe lack of data on menstrual poverty rates in New Zealand, it is likely that any research attempting to quantify this will yield inaccurate results; concealment protocol is so strict that women will rarely indicate menstruation is the cause of illness or absence (Sommer, 2010). Likewise, it is unrealistic to

envisage adolescent girls will admit to taking substantial time off school due to menstrual poverty, as seen through the results of this research.

Menstrual health has been recognised as an important public health issue as inadequate management of menstruation (i.e., not using sterile sanitary products like tampons) can lead to various health problems (e.g., gynaecologic infections and virus transference) as well as psychosocial issues related to stigma, shame, and emotional disturbances (House, et al, 2012). Where the topic of menstruation has previously been situated in the private sphere, there has been a shift to greater public responsibility from governments, especially through structures such as schools. Barriers to menstrual hygiene management within school settings in developing contexts have gained attention internationally, both in the media and in research literature. However, very little research has been done in this field in New Zealand, rendering menstrual poverty a very poorly understood phenomenon that requires increased acknowledgment.

6. CONCLUSION

In this chapter I have discussed literature on the hegemonic ideal of femininity and how menstruation is considered a tarnished mark on a woman’s identity, therefore requiring intense secrecy and concealment at the risk of social exclusion. Most of the literature in this field has been conducted in Western developed countries have share similar societal structures to New Zealand and thus are valuable. Comparable New Zealand studies on menstrual poverty were not found. Research on menstrual poverty is a relatively new field, especially in Western societies, and the majority of the studies discussed throughout this chapter were conducted in developing countries. I believe this indicates a gap in the research and the need to consider menstruation from the perspectives of youth from different cultures

and social classes in New Zealand. The following chapter will discuss further the theoretical frameworks underpinning this research and the methodology undertaken to complete it.