17% of women miss work, school out of fear their periods will be discovered

Women’s health app Clue surveyed 90,000 people from 190 countries to learn how the world thinks about menstruation.  

The results prove that most countries do indeed hold negative stigmas surrounding menstruation. As a result, those with periods can feel silenced.

“Many women and girls in developing countries face a host of challenges when it comes to their period—from not being able to access hygiene products to being forced to miss school because of a lack of toilets. This is compounded by the fact that most don’t receive comprehensive sexuality education, so they are unaware of how their bodies work,” said Françoise Girard in a release. Girard is president of The International Women’s Health Coalition (IWHC), which consulted on the survey. “We need to do a lot more to make sure women and girls know and are comfortable speaking about their sexual and reproductive health and their rights.” Read more…