Managing menstruation in a school environment constitutes a major challenge for many young girls in Benin. Between intense abdominal pain, stigma and lack of adequate sanitation facilities, their daily lives are often marked by embarrassment and discomfort. Projects to raise awareness and distribute menstrual hygiene kits have already had a significant impact, but much remains to be done to guarantee all young girls a safe school environment that respects their dignity.
Claudine Talon Foundation
Puberty coincides with the onset of periods or menstruation in young girls who will later become women and will experience this phenomenon until menopause. Periods, also called menstruation, are the release of blood from the uterus through a woman’s vagina. They appear once a month. This cycle which repeats itself every month is called “menstrual cycle”. In Benin, it is very common to note that many girls in our high schools and colleges miss classes as soon as their periods arrive. If it’s not the abdominal pain, it’s the blood stains on their uniforms that force them to go home. According to UNICEF Benin, more than one in three girls in schools lose at least two days per month of lessons due to discrimination linked to menstrual management. Research commissioned by the Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE/BENIN) on “ Impact of poor management of menstrual hygiene on the academic performance of middle school girls in the municipalities of Avrankou and Bohicon and Parakou » agrees. 34.19% of girls miss classes due to menstruation, according to the research. Discrimination at school, difficult access to hygienic protection, menstrual insecurity, the non-inclusion of men in the management of menstruation… So many taboos surround periods and place the subject at the heart of major debates.
In Benin, more than one in three girls at school lose at least two days per month of lessons due to discrimination linked to menstrual management.
To remedy this, UNICEF and the MTN Foundation are joining forces to break taboos and keep girls in school. pic.twitter.com/Hi9m5oOtI1
— UNICEF Benin (@UNICEF_Benin) December 23, 2022
Menstruation, an ordeal for young girls at school
Marie, a 16-year-old student in the second grade at CEG Ekpè 1, recounts her setbacks with palpable despair: “Every month, when my period arrives, the abdominal pain is so intense that I struggle to get to school. In class, I struggle to concentrate. Sometimes I have to leave the classroom in the middle of a lesson, I can’t stand another minute in this hell. During recess, I often stay alone, withdrawn, unable to participate in games or lively conversations with my classmates.” Other girls feel embarrassed when their clothes are stained with menstrual blood in class, which can lead to lowered self-esteem. Aïcha, 15 years old, a young student at CEG Ekpè 2, shares her experience. She says: “Every young girl’s worst nightmare is ending up with a blood stain on her uniform in the middle of the school day. This is exactly what happened to me a few months ago, and I still remember the shame and embarrassment that overwhelmed me. I tried to sneak out of the classroom, praying that no one would notice the red stain on my skirt. I hid in the toilet, desperately trying to clean the stain with toilet paper, but nothing worked.” “This experience marked me forever. Since that day, I have lived in constant fear that it would happen again,” she adds with a dismayed look.
Photo de Karolina Grabowska via Pexels
Lack of adequate and suitable toilets in schools
Schools and colleges in Benin suffer from a serious problem: an obvious and urgent lack of toilets adapted to the needs of young girls during their menstruation. Indeed, in many schools, sanitary facilities are insufficient, poorly maintained or unsuitable, making it difficult for young girls to manage their periods in a hygienic and comfortable manner. Toilets are poorly equipped with supplies such as toilet paper, running water, trash cans, and washing facilities. This prevents young girls from changing, cleaning and feeling comfortable during their periods. Also, the lack of lockable doors or adequate separations between toilets can create an uncomfortable and intimidating environment, increasing the risk of stigma and embarrassment for young girls. This situation contributes to worsening the difficulties young girls face in managing menstruation in schools, thus compromising their well-being, health and education. Fatou, a 14-year-old third-year student at Amour college in Ekpè, says: “Every month, when my period arrives, it’s as if an additional challenge is added to my already busy day. The school toilets are really terrible. There is never enough toilet paper, water is rarely available, and there are not even trash cans to throw away used sanitary protection.” She continues angrily: “I feel so uncomfortable and embarrassed when I have to change in these conditions. It’s hard enough dealing with pain and mood swings during my period, but adding these issues into school makes things even more complicated. “. Unfortunately, in Benin, access to drinking water and the presence of sanitary infrastructure are far from guaranteed for the majority of schools in rural areas.
Actions carried out at national level
Faced with the problem of menstrual hygiene in schools, several organizations are carrying out response actions. Since 2020, the Claudine Talon Foundation has been leading the project “ Menstrual hygiene management in schools “. In three years, this project has enabled more than 11,800 girls to be trained and more than 10,700 boys to be made aware of menstrual hygiene in 98 schools spread across the national territory. The Plan for Girls project funded by Global Affairs Canada inaugurated 12 separate latrine modules for girls and boys in the Municipality of Savalou. This is to provide a healthy learning environment for students through access to adequate toilets. The toilets dedicated to girls have a menstrual hygiene corner to allow girls to better manage their periods while they are at school. In January 2022 in Bohicon, the Beninese Minister of Social Affairs launched a campaign to distribute menstrual hygiene management kits for the benefit of 14,000 adolescent girls aged 10 to 19 from 51 middle schools in the Zogbodomè health zone; Bohicon and Zakpota. It was as part of the implementation of a project called UPSHIFT, funded by UNICEF with the distribution of 56,000 locally manufactured sanitary napkins and menstrual tracking books. The Mata-Yara NGO led by Hermyone ADJOVI launched a national tour called “ DigniFemme » over the period 2022-2023. This tour consists of the distribution of washable and reusable sanitary napkins, and raising awareness about menstrual hygiene. In total, 6,000 young girls were impacted in the 12 departments.
Persistent obstacles and challenges ahead
Research sponsored by FAWE/BENINit appears that in both school and family environments, young girls lack accurate and useful information on menstruation. 93.87% of the girls surveyed expressed the need for information on menstruation. When it comes to the hygienic practice of menstruation, the study found that good practices are not widespread. 80.47% of young girls do not have access to infrastructure or protection to better manage their periods. So it becomes necessary for education authorities and policy makers to recognize the critical importance of improving sanitation facilities in schools and colleges, ensuring that they are tailored to the specific needs of girls and ensure their dignity, hygiene and safety during their menstruation. A survey carried out by the Claudine Talon Foundation revealed that 56% of young girls who have their periods have already spent time at school. Among them, 37% suffered from mockery. Hence the need to raise awareness among boys. The objective is to limit their mocking behavior towards girls and to develop their empathy towards them through a better understanding of the rules. A large number of young girls panic when their first period appears and have difficulty adapting and managing their periods well. This is partly explained by the insufficient involvement of parents in the sexual education of the young girl before puberty, in order to enable her to better welcome this event. To overcome this, Professor Charlemagne Ouédraogo, Obstetrician Gynecologist, believes that early education of young girls in the management of menstrual hygiene and the menstrual cycle is necessary. There are also many girls who do not have access to sanitary protection. However, menstrual hygiene requires that adolescents and women have access to healthy products to collect blood. It also assumes that they have access to water and soap to clean themselves properly and also benefit from good facilities to properly manage the menstrual flow.
Remember that good hygiene management is one of the basic reproductive health services to which every woman and girl is entitled.