Menstruation a barrier to girls’ education in Kenya

Although the onset of menstruation is an important milestone in the transition from childhood to adulthood, it is often considered a major concern.

In Kenya, for example, millions of girls who have reached puberty are severely disempowered due to lack of access to sanitary clothing. Many teenage girls from disadvantaged families cannot afford to buy sanitary pads and choose to use unsanitary methods.

Girls who can’t afford sanitary pads resort to crude and unhygienic methods, including using old mattresses, old cloth, or inserting cotton into the uterus to try to block the discharge. In Kenya’s sprawling urban slums, girls collect used sanitary napkins from garbage dumps and wash them for their own use, leading to serious health complications.

Millions of girls in Kenya are at risk of dropping out of school at the onset of menstruation. According to a study by the Ministry of Education, Kenyan adolescent girls miss approximately 3.5 million days of learning per month during their menstrual cycle. This hampers their ability to compete in the classroom, leads to low self-esteem, higher dropout rates and, in some regions, makes them vulnerable to early marriage. Along with the days of learning lost, girls lose self-confidence and the opportunity to reach their potential decreases every month.

Limited access to safe, affordable, convenient and hygienic methods to control menstruation has far-reaching implications for the rights and physical, social and mental well-being of adolescent girls. Not only does it undermine sexual and reproductive health and well-being, but it has been shown to restrict girls’ access to education when they miss school due to a lack of proper ways to monitor their menstruation. This has an impact on their performance and could ultimately lead to some dropping out of school.

Currently, women make up the majority of illiterate adult Kenyans (58%). Significantly, this is due to their inability to complete school for many of the reasons associated with sexual and reproductive health.

The second and third Millennium Development Goals (MDGs 2 and 3), “achieve universal primary education” and “promote gender equality and empowerment”, are not only a key development goal in their own right, but also a important means of achieving all the MDGs. It is imperative that Kenya accelerate its efforts and take additional steps to ensure that the millions of girls affected by lack of education benefit from the basic promises of the MDGs. Action is needed to address the underlying causes that restrict women’s economic opportunities.