Index Investing News
Sunday, May 25, 2025
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • Home
  • World
  • Investing
  • Financial
  • Economy
  • Markets
  • Stocks
  • Crypto
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Opinion
  • Home
  • World
  • Investing
  • Financial
  • Economy
  • Markets
  • Stocks
  • Crypto
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Opinion
No Result
View All Result
Index Investing News
No Result
View All Result

Kenyan senator campaigns against stigma around menstruation

by Index Investing News
March 8, 2023
in World
Reading Time: 4 mins read
A A
0
Home World
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter


NAIROBI, Kenya — The sight of a red bloodstain on Kenyan Senator Gloria Orwoba’s white pantsuit was so startling that a female security guard rushed over to hide it.

It was an accident, Orwoba said. Just before walking into parliament, she looked down to discover that she had been caught unprepared by her monthly period.

For a moment, she considered retreat. But then she thought about how the stigma around menstruation affects Kenyan women and girls and strode into the building. To those who noticed the stain, she explained she was making a statement.

It didn’t last long. Within minutes, colleagues in the senate became so uncomfortable that another female lawmaker petitioned the speaker to ask Orwoba to leave and change her clothes. Male colleagues agreed, calling the issue “taboo and private,” and Orwoba walked out.

Women make up less than a third of Kenya’s senators: 21 of 67.

A male colleague accused her of faking her accident in parliament, to which she replied in a local media interview that “everyone would rather think it’s a prank, because if it is a prank then it’s acting and that way it doesn’t exist in the real world. Yet our girls are suffering.”

Whether or not Orwoba’s menstrual stain was an accident or a stunt, the controversy it has elicited shows the considerable stigma that surrounds women’s periods in Kenya and in many African countries.

Orwoba hasn’t been silenced. The incident last month has inspired considerable debate in Kenya about “period shaming” of women and the problem of the lack of access to sanitary pads for schoolgirls and others in many African countries.

Inspired, some of Orwoba’s friends have even paid for a billboard in the capital, Nairobi, that shows her in a white T-shirt with the words “I can do bleeding” — a spirited message against menstrual stigma in the largely conservative country.

In an interview with The Associated Press, the bubbly first-time senator acknowledged that the incident has prompted her to concentrate on drafting a bill calling on the Kenyan government to provide an annual supply of sanitary pads to all schoolgirls and incarcerated women.

“For legislators to feel the urgency of legislating things into law, they must be subjected to the advocacy and the noise,” she said of her public campaign.

The 36-year-old said she has never understood why menstruation is spoken of like a secret. She recalled being excited as a teenager to finally have her first period after being the last among her peers to get the “mark of womanhood.”

“My attitude toward menstruation since then has been open,” said Orwoba, who has warned her teenage son to never shame a girl for having her period.

Studies have shown that menstruation causes widespread absences from school in many African countries by girls who stay home for fear of staining their uniforms.

In 2019, one schoolgirl in Kenya killed herself after a teacher called her dirty and kicked her out of class.

One in 10 African schoolgirls misses school during menstruation, according to a U.N. survey, and many, after lagging behind, eventually drop out.

Official efforts and promises to provide sanitary pads have fallen short. In Kenya, the government increased budget funds to distribute pads to schoolgirls in 2018 but the amount was halved the next year.

Neighboring Tanzania removed taxes on sanitary pads to make them more affordable, but many still find them too expensive because of high production and import costs.

Now Orwoba receives calls from organizations that want to make menstruation products accessible to the poor, including a British firm that wants to put up sanitary pad dispensers in public toilets. Such dispensers for condoms have long been common in public toilets across Kenya as part of national campaigns against HIV.

In recent years, Kenya has seen the introduction of reusable menstruation products like washable pads and silicon cups. But the lack of access to water to clean them in some rural communities has prevented some users from embracing them.

Virginia Mwongeli, 24, sells menstruation cups in Nairobi and thinks Orwoba’s bold move will help end period shaming.

“We need to normalize periods,” she said.

The senator’s decision to walk into parliament with stained pants was “totally acceptable as people need to openly discuss menstruation,” said Lorna Mweu, popularly known as Mamake Bobo, who founded Period Party, an organization that holds an annual event in Kenya to help end stigma.

Orwoba said she longs for the day when accidental period stains will be seen as normal, not shameful. Women and girls are using up valuable sanitary pads by wearing them as a precaution out of anxiety, she said: “That’s a whole pack that you’ve wasted because of the fear of staining your clothes.”



Source link

Tags: campaignsKenyanmenstruationsenatorstigma
ShareTweetShareShare
Previous Post

Sovereign Gold Bond scheme 2023 subscription closes on THIS date: 10 reasons to subscribe govt-backed digital gold scheme

Next Post

India’s Crypto Firms Get ‘Reporting Entities’ Status Like Banks

Related Posts

Cannes Movie Competition: Palme d’Or awarded to Iranian filmmaker

Cannes Movie Competition: Palme d’Or awarded to Iranian filmmaker

by Index Investing News
May 25, 2025
0

he closing ceremony acquired underway Saturday after a serious energy outage struck southeastern France as a consequence of what police...

9 kids of a health care provider amongst 79 individuals killed in Israeli air strike in Gaza

9 kids of a health care provider amongst 79 individuals killed in Israeli air strike in Gaza

by Index Investing News
May 25, 2025
0

NINE kids of a health care provider have been amongst 79 individuals to die in an Israeli air strike.Dr Alaa...

Arson suspected as energy outage in France disrupts last day of Cannes Movie Competition

Arson suspected as energy outage in France disrupts last day of Cannes Movie Competition

by Index Investing News
May 24, 2025
0

CANNES, France -- French authorities consider arson could have performed a task in an influence outage Saturday in southeast France...

Paris arrested Telegram founder to meddle in Romanian election — Moscow — RT World Information

Paris arrested Telegram founder to meddle in Romanian election — Moscow — RT World Information

by Index Investing News
May 24, 2025
0

Pavel Durov has stated that French intelligence tried to censor conservatives on the platform throughout election marketing campaign season Russian...

How Canada’s relationship with Israel went from ‘greatest buddy’ to breakdown

How Canada’s relationship with Israel went from ‘greatest buddy’ to breakdown

by Index Investing News
May 24, 2025
0

Warning: This story contains an archival picture of lifeless our bodies.Canada's relationship with Israel has travelled a good distance since...

Next Post
India’s Crypto Firms Get ‘Reporting Entities’ Status Like Banks

India's Crypto Firms Get 'Reporting Entities' Status Like Banks

Where were the adults amid the cryptocurrency scandal?

Where were the adults amid the cryptocurrency scandal?

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

RECOMMENDED

A Looming Debt Crisis is Threatening Global Health Security. It is time to Drop the Debt — Global Issues

A Looming Debt Crisis is Threatening Global Health Security. It is time to Drop the Debt — Global Issues

November 21, 2022
Finest Amazon Offers Value Buying Forward of Amazon Prime Day 2022

Finest Amazon Offers Value Buying Forward of Amazon Prime Day 2022

April 30, 2022
” I can kick as good as the Dallas Cowboys kicker”

” I can kick as good as the Dallas Cowboys kicker”

January 23, 2023
What If the Federal Reserve’s Done Raising Interest Rates?

What If the Federal Reserve’s Done Raising Interest Rates?

November 10, 2023
Arizona’s top court allows near-total 1864 abortion ban to go into effect | Courts News

Arizona’s top court allows near-total 1864 abortion ban to go into effect | Courts News

April 9, 2024
Where to watch the Ballon d’Or 2022 ceremony online tonight

Where to watch the Ballon d’Or 2022 ceremony online tonight

October 17, 2022
China’s slump | Mint

China’s slump | Mint

March 5, 2023
Tropical Storm Philippe pelts northeast Caribbean with heavy rains and forces schools to close

Tropical Storm Philippe pelts northeast Caribbean with heavy rains and forces schools to close

October 3, 2023
Index Investing News

Get the latest news and follow the coverage of Investing, World News, Stocks, Market Analysis, Business & Financial News, and more from the top trusted sources.

  • 1717575246.7
  • Browse the latest news about investing and more
  • Contact us
  • Cookie Privacy Policy
  • Disclaimer
  • DMCA
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms and Conditions
  • xtw18387b488

Copyright © 2022 - Index Investing News.
Index Investing News is not responsible for the content of external sites.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • World
  • Investing
  • Financial
  • Economy
  • Markets
  • Stocks
  • Crypto
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Opinion

Copyright © 2022 - Index Investing News.
Index Investing News is not responsible for the content of external sites.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In