'Menstrual discrimination, violation of constitutional rights'

Kathmandu, March 6: "Menstrual discrimination is a grave violation of Constitutional rights," said Surendra Basnet, the Executive Vice-Chair of Youth Council Nepal. 

During his address to a programme on "Dignified Menstruation within the Youth Policy" here on Thursday, Basnet pledged to incorporate the issues of dignified menstruation in the Youth Vision (2025-35) that is in the early phase of its formulation.     

Echoing the need to recognize the essentiality of dignified menstruation in all state policies and actions, he was against the tendency of "describing the practices of menstrual discrimination through a positive connotation, thus consolidating the ground for its further institutionalization."     

"If we, around 30 million population in the Country, even make a single step towards the establishment of dignified menstruation, it will surely contribute to making a significant stride towards the building of a dignified menstruation-friendly society by eliminating all sorts of menstrual discrimination,” he said.     

He also assured that the matter will be reached at the local level through the youth's network.     

Basnet urged one and all to achieve the status to announce that," I, our home and family are in the position of self-declaring the practices of menstrual discrimination", adding that "The matter is of common concern and can't be overlooked further."     

Similarly, sharing her experiences of menstrual discrimination and orienting the participants about the concept of dignified menstruation, Dr Radha Paudel, the founder and CEO of Global South Coalition for Dignified Menstruation, clarified that menstrual discrimination has violated at least 14 fundamental rights enshrined by the Constitution. "Thus this is Constitutional and political agenda, too and the State should accept it accordingly, taking effective approach, policies, measures and actions to implement the concept of dignified menstruation."     

Describing dignified menstruation as a comprehensive approach to build an egalitarian society, she expressed her concern that, "Neither the UN Conventions, documents nor national policies and laws have recognized the menstrual discrimination as a 'violence' and a hurdle to the advancement of a better society."     

 Paudel, a PhD scholar on dignified menstruation, asserted that research findings are enough to say that menstrual discrimination is global with 5,000 euphemistic expressions and it is very concerning that it has been understood as a harmful practice as of son preference, genital mutilation, and witchcraft accusations.     

"It is human rights and political issues, and considering and interpreting it as a harmful practice instead prevents us from internalizing its deep-rooted nature and broader consequences," the activist argued.     

During their brief sharing about the experiences, surrounding menstruation, the participants said that since their childhood, they were socialized to learn it as a 'state of fear', 'stress', 'stigma', 'taboo', 'exclusion' from the kitchen, 'shame' and so on. They added now they are more or less sensitized to the sensitivity of the issue with the understanding that it is completely a biological process and could not be used as a tool to commit violence against menstruators.     

During the initial exercise of the program, the 23 participants reflected on various forms of menstrual discrimination they had encountered from the age of 5 to 10 (an average of 8 years old). According to the organisers, this marked the departure point of the construction of unequal power and patriarchy. (RSS)