'DM framework largely missing in media'

By Pabitra Guragain, Kathmandu, April 19: The four-day-long international media training organized by the Global South Coalition for Dignified Menstruation concluded here today.     

The participants belonging to diverse genders and communities from home and abroad stated that they explored throughout the session the significance of dignified menstruation in all aspects of life throughout the life cycle by assessing it through the feminist, transformative, holistic, inclusive, and human rights perspectives.     

The participants who were from Pakistan, Sri Lanka, India, and Kenya meticulously assessed policy and legal gaps in regard with discriminatory practices around menstruation.     

They dedicated time to explore their own experiences regarding menstruation as both menstruators and non-menstruators, and were convinced that menstrual discrimination is more or less the same whether it be in Sri Lanka, eastern Nepal, or Western Nepal, said training facilitator and dignified menstruation activist Govinda Khadka.     

Going through the media coverage on menstruation through the lens of dignified menstruation, the participants reached a conclusion that so far, media contents were largely focused on 'menstrual hygiene', or 'sanitary pads', forgetting to deal with in a comprehensive approach. This media trend on the coverage of news about menstruation is just capable of further perpetuating stereotypes around menstruation, according to Khadka.     

The media has largely missed a policy when it comes to dignity in menstruation, he reiterated.     

The participants said the training was insightful, making them aware of absolute gaps in our national and international polices, rights conventions, and development efforts when they are viewed through the essence of dignified menstruation.     

They were univocal that the training was fruitful for them to have a conceptual clarity of dignified menstruation, to understand myths surrounding menstruation, to realize the roles of menstrual discrimination in creating unequal power relations, and systematic inequalities by hurting the dignity of menstruators throughout their life cycle.     

They further said dignified menstruation is urgent for the empowerment of menstruators, and the role of media is highly important to address the situation. "Menstruation is not something to be hidden, ashamed of, or to be considered a condition for treating menstruators differently in a degrading way," said one of the participants.     

The gathering also highlighted the need to challenge demeaning discrimination through a media campaign.     

"Menstrual discrimination is a gender-based violence, a human rights issue, and a systematic discrimination," said media educator Dr Samiksha Koirala while sharing her understanding in the gathering. Menstruation is a global issue that transcends the gender binary, according to her.     

She proposed the gathering to design news coverage on menstruation within a dignity-based framework. For instance, a potential headline like "School girls miss school due to a lack of sanitary pads" could be reframed as "Menstrual discrimination denies girls their right to education and bodily autonomy" under this framework. She further stressed that referring to menstrual pads as "sanitary pads" and menstrual management as "menstrual hygiene" implies that menstruation is something unclean that needs to be sanitized.     

Noted rights activist and writer Dr Radha Paudel, who is also the founder of Global South Coalition for Dignified Menstruation, said," Media has a significant role in strengthening the voice for dignified menstruation; therefore, the organization has been conducting training for journalists on Dignified Menstruation in Nepal and beyond. "More importantly, dignified menstruation is everyone's business," she laid emphasis.(RSS)