Events

Menstrual Health as a Human Rights Issue: Perspectives from Research, Policy and Advocacy

Beyond health and hygiene, menstrual health is a matter of dignity, equality, and human rights. Yet stigma and inequity continue to affect menstrual experiences worldwide.
Lorena Verduci Sep 25, 2026

Menstruation affects billions of people worldwide, yet inequalities, stigma, and discrimination continue to shape menstrual experiences and outcomes. Increasingly, researchers and advocates are calling for menstrual health to be viewed not only as a health issue, but as a matter of human rights, dignity, and gender justice.

On 29 September at 13:30 (GMT+1), the panel Menstrual Health as a Human Rights Issue  will bring together experts from research, policy, and advocacy as part of Springer Nature's Breaking Barriers for Gender Rights and Justice through Research conference. 

Ahead of the discussion, one of of our panelists, Radha Paudel,  reflected on two questions about the evolving conversation on menstrual health and justice. Their responses offer a preview of the perspectives and priorities that will be explored during the session.

 

What changes when we frame menstruation as a human rights issue rather than solely as a health or hygiene issue?

Framing menstruation as a human rights issue is an appeal for dignified menstruation that seeks to examine menstrual perceptions and practices through human rights principles, including the right to dignity,  equality, freedom, and non-discrimination, rather than simply using the word `dignity' in isolation. Often rights, such as the right to health, education,  shelter, food, and the rights of the child, may also be involved depending on the context of the menstruator.

As a pioneer advocate for dignified menstruation, I consider  framing menstruation as a human rights issue to be a decolonial, life-cycle,  and holistic approach. It challenges the human rights discourse that, since 1948,  has never acknowledged  menstrual discrimination as a violation of human rights at home, at school,  in the community, in the workplace, in parliament and beyond. Furthermore, menstrual discrimination is an underlying barrier to equality and contributes to patriarchy and exclusion.

What is one aspect of menstrual health and justice that remains overlooked, and what action or research is most needed to address it?

With some frustration and surprise, I note that menstruation has been part of human existence since the time of Homo sapiens, and menstrual practices have been associated with it ever since, yet it has never become an explicit agenda for human rights, politics, or feminism.
The politics of menstrual discrimination is neither defined nor acknowledged ,as defined by the Global South Coalition for Dignified Menstruation. Once you unpack menstrual discrimination as a range of perceptions and practices, including silence, taboos, stigma, shyness, abuse, violence, restrictions, and the denial of resources and services, and recognise it as a primary driver in the construction and socialisation of unequal power, patriarchy, and exclusion, you begin to understand how menstrual discrimination affects all aspects and levels of society because menstruators are everywhere.
This will also prove how the current rhetoric of gender equality is failing to address the needs, rights and priorities of menstruators across diverse settings.

To hear these conversations explored in greater depth, register and learn more via the conference page.