It’s hard to imagine a simple sanitary pad having an impact on gender equality, but when it comes to education in Kenya, the difference between boys and girls is often a small piece of cotton. The @WorldBank estimates that 95% of schoolgirls who have begun menstruating miss between 1 and 3 days per month due to their period, in most cases because they cannot access basic menstrual health supplies.
Suppose there are approximately 2 million girls currently enrolled in secondary school in Kenya. In that case, it means that girls miss an estimated 3.8 million school days per month and 34.2 million school days annually – 273.6 million hours of missed learning and socialization every year – simply because they are menstruating.
When girls miss school, most suffer a decline in grades, and roughly half report that they fall behind their peers in class. This gaping educational disparity is one way gender inequality takes hold in a country like Kenya – and a major reason why ensuring schoolgirls are well-equipped to manage their #menstrualhealth should be a top priority. If we aim to achieve gender equality tomorrow, we can start by ending #periodpoverty today.
