Menstrual Hygiene Day, celebrated annually, focuses on the importance of proper menstrual hygiene management.
This day aims to break taboos and spread awareness about menstrual health and women’s hygiene around the world!
Menstrual Hygiene Day Timeline
Early Written Menstruation Taboos
The ancient Hebrew text of Leviticus describes menstruation as ritually impure and restricts contact with menstruating women, reflecting early recorded religious taboos that shaped social exclusion and secrecy around periods for centuries.
Invention of the First Commercial Menstrual Pad Concept
American inventor Mary Beatrice Davidson Kenner’s later work builds on earlier 19th‑century ideas, including a 1854 U.S. patent by Martha J. Coston for an “improvement in sanitary napkins,” one of the first documented attempts to create a purpose‑made menstrual absorbent.
Kotex Brings Mass‑Market Disposable Pads to Consumers
Kimberly‑Clark launches Kotex sanitary napkins in the United States, adapting absorbent cellulose used for World War I bandages.
It becomes one of the first widely marketed disposable menstrual pads, shifting management of periods from homemade cloths to branded products.
Modern Applicator Tampon Patented
American inventor Earle Cleveland Haas receives a U.S. patent for a compressed cotton tampon with a telescoping cardboard applicator, later sold under the Tampax brand.
This design popularizes internal menstrual protection and reshapes product options for people who menstruate.
Second‑Wave Feminism Challenges Menstrual Silence
Women’s health activists in North America and Europe begin publishing books like “Our Bodies, Ourselves” and creating self‑help groups that openly discuss menstruation, critique product safety, and question cultural shame, laying groundwork for later menstrual health advocacy.
UNICEF and WHO Highlight Menstrual Hygiene in WASH in Schools
UNICEF and WHO’s joint monitoring and related guidance start foregrounding menstrual hygiene management in water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) programming for schools, emphasizing adequate toilets, water, and disposal facilities as essential for girls’ education and dignity.
UN Human Rights Council Recognizes Menstrual Hygiene as a Rights Issue
The UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights to water and sanitation presents a report to the Human Rights Council affirming that stigma and lack of menstrual hygiene management undermine rights to health, education, work, and gender equality, pushing menstruation into rights‑based policy debates.
How to Celebrate Menstrual Hygiene Day
The day isn’t just about talking; it’s about doing.
From creating catchy digital menstruation bracelets to spreading awareness to engaging governments and organizations to invest more in menstrual health, Menstrual Hygiene Day is making strides towards a world where period poverty and stigma are things of the past.
The ultimate goal? To make sure no one is held back just because they menstruate, aiming for a future where periods are a normal fact of life by 2030.
Celebrating Menstrual Hygiene Day can be both impactful and fun with these quirky suggestions:
Rally for Your Right to Know
Advocate for transparency in period product ingredients. Support legislation that demands full disclosure of what’s in these products to ensure they’re safe and free from harmful chemicals.
Follow and Support Champions of Menstrual Equity
On social media, engage with and amplify the voices of organizations and individuals who are fighting for menstrual equity.
Join a Virtual Workshop
Participate in online workshops like “Our Story, Our Flow,” which offer interactive discussions about menstruation. These workshops welcome individuals of all gender identities and are a great way to learn and share experiences.
Support and Celebrate Breakthroughs in Menstrual Health
Applaud the achievements in countries like Bhutan, where sanitary pads are available at all times. Celebrate initiatives like the Red Dot campaign, which promotes menstrual health and hygiene through creative and engaging ways.
Engage in Public and Community Events
Getting involved in public activities can make a significant impact. These can include visiting children’s homes to donate pads or engaging in educational sessions about menstrual health.
Empower Girl Guides and Scouts
Take part in activities aimed at empowering girls in hard-to-reach areas. These can range from teaching how to use reusable pads to organizing events that provide sanitary products.
Why Observe Menstrual Hygiene Day
The day is crucial because over 500 million women and girls globally lack proper access to menstrual hygiene facilities. This lack of access affects their health, education, and overall well-being. Menstrual hygiene is about more than just access to sanitary products.
It includes having clean and safe spaces to change, the ability to wash with soap and water, and hygienically disposing of used menstrual products. Importantly, it also involves education on menstruation to manage it with dignity and without discomfort or fear.
Honoring Menstrual Hygiene Day helps address the multi-dimensional issues related to menstruation. These include inadequate sanitary facilities, lack of access to affordable menstrual products, and cultural taboos that lead to stigma and discrimination.
Through education and raising awareness, the day contributes to reducing the negative impact of poor menstrual health and hygiene on girls’ and women’s education, health, and overall life chances. It’s a call to action for improvements in policy, facilities, and societal attitudes towards menstruation.
History of Menstrual Hygiene Day
Menstrual Hygiene Day has a quirky and impactful history. It’s about turning the tide on period stigma and making menstrual care accessible to everyone, everywhere.
Kicked off by the go-getter NGO WASH United in 2013, this day quickly made its mark by starting a global conversation about periods.
The choice of May 28 for its annual celebration wasn’t random; it cleverly mirrors the average menstrual cycle of 28 days and the five days of menstruation, aligning with May being the fifth month. It’s like they wrapped the whole menstrual experience into one date!
The purpose of the day is to break taboos and spread the word that menstruation is normal and should be stigma-free. The aim is to ensure everyone can manage their menstruation safely, hygienically, and without shame by 2030.
The movement has grown massively, with over 970 partners worldwide working on providing access to quality menstrual products. They educate people about menstruation, change negative social norms, and push for policy changes, like reducing taxes on period products.
The global reach and impact of Menstrual Hygiene Day are nothing short of amazing. What started with reaching over 20 million people in its first year has ballooned to touching nearly 700 million lives by 2022. That’s a lot of conversations and changed attitudes about menstruation!
Changes are happening, with various countries implementing policies to make menstrual products freely available in schools and workplaces and even incorporating menstrual education into school curriculums.
Facts About Menstrual Hygiene Day
Menstrual Hygiene and School Attendance
Studies in low and middle income countries have found that lack of menstrual products, private toilets, and water in schools contributes to girls missing class, although the exact impact varies by setting.
A 2023 systematic review reported that while menstruation is often linked to school absenteeism in surveys, interventions that provided pads, pain relief, or improved toilets showed mixed but generally positive effects on attendance, highlighting how menstrual health, education systems, and broader gender inequalities are tightly connected.
Health Risks of Poor Menstrual Hygiene
Using unclean absorbents, not changing pads or cloths frequently, and lacking facilities to wash and dry reusable materials safely can increase the risk of urogenital infections.
Research in India found that women who used reusable cloths and could not wash and dry them properly had significantly higher odds of symptoms of reproductive tract infections compared with those using disposable pads, underscoring that safe water, privacy, and soap are as important as the products themselves.
Global Scale of Menstrual Health Needs
Menstrual health challenges are widespread beyond the often cited figure of 500 million people lacking adequate facilities.
UNICEF estimates that in sub-Saharan Africa, around 1 in 10 girls miss school during their period, and a 2021 review by the World Bank and partners highlighted that in many countries fewer than half of adolescent girls have basic menstrual health knowledge before menarche, which can lead to fear, shame, and unsafe management when their first period arrives.
Menstruation Taboos and Religious Spaces
In several cultures, menstruation has historically restricted women’s participation in religious activities and use of sacred spaces.
For example, in Nepal, the outlawed but still practiced custom of chhaupadi has required menstruating women and girls to sleep in separate huts and avoid temples and kitchens, practices that have been linked to cold exposure, animal attacks, and reduced access to food and healthcare, illustrating how beliefs about “impurity” can directly affect safety and well-being.
Historical Use of Menstrual Materials
Long before commercial pads and tampons, people used locally available materials to manage menstrual bleeding, including moss, papyrus, linen rags, wool, and even paper.
Historical records suggest that in ancient Greece women sometimes used lint wrapped around small pieces of wood, while in 19th century Europe and North America washable “sanitary aprons” and home-sewn cloth pads were common, showing that reusable approaches have a long history predating today’s modern reusable products.
Taxation and Menstrual Products
For many years, menstrual products were taxed as nonessential goods in numerous countries, despite being necessities for those who menstruate.
Economic analyses have shown that so-called “tampon taxes” disproportionately affect low income consumers, and since 2015 a growing number of governments, including those of Canada, India, Kenya, and many U.S. states, have reduced or eliminated these taxes as part of broader efforts to address period poverty and recognize menstrual products as essential items.
Menstrual Health as a Human Rights Issue
International human rights bodies now explicitly frame menstrual health as connected to rights to water and sanitation, education, work, and gender equality.
In 2014 the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation highlighted that menstruation had been “insufficiently acknowledged and addressed” in policy, and subsequent UN reports have urged governments to ensure access to information, products, and dignified facilities so that menstruation does not become a source of discrimination or exclusion.
