Day of the Girl: Teach menstrual hygiene in school, gender activists
Khayanga Wasike, educates school children on menstrual hygiene in Kapsoya, Eldoret town of Uasin Gishu County as the world marked the World Menstrual Hygiene Day in 2019. As the world marks International Day of the girl child today, gender activists now want menstrual hygiene introduced in the school curriculum.
What you need to know:
- Gender activists in Homa Bay want the Ministry of Education to introduce menstrual hygiene lessons in schools.
- Some teenage girls miss school because of inability to stay clean when in their menses.
- Dr Jennifer Riria: Girls are still being subjected to painful and dehumanising cultural practices such as Female Genital Mutilation
Gender activists in Homa Bay want the Ministry of Education to introduce menstrual hygiene lessons in schools as a way of fighting stigma associated with menstrual cycle.
The officials from Chief Tiberius Ajwang’ Foundation who spoke at Wanyama Secondary school in Rusinga, Homa Bay County, expressed concern that most school girls do not know how to maintain menstrual hygiene.
The officials said some teenage girls miss school because of inability to stay clean when in their menses.
Foundation mentor Vidah Achieng’ said failure to address menstrual hygiene can also lead to disease infection among teenage girls. According to her, most school children are never taught about physiological changes that take place in their bodies during puberty.
"It is upon concerned agencies to ensure teenage girls are educated about the changes they experience in their bodies. Most girls are not aware of what is happening to them including menses and how to stay clean," Ms Achieng’ said.
Violet Antonio, a counsellor at the foundation said they mentor girls to overcome social challenges associated with stress and behaviours that interfere with their concentration in school.
Early sex
“There are people who prey on vulnerable girls but we want the vice to stop," she said.
Some of the talks the girls are taken through include refraining early sex, avoiding early marriages and benefits of education.
Ms Achieng’ said that during their visits to schools to mentor and supply sanitary towels they discovered that some students, especially in rural areas do not know how to use sanitary towels, compromising their hygiene.
Kenya joined other counties in celebrating the International Day of the Girl Child on Wednesday, with gender activists calling for protection of girls.
This years’ theme is invest in girls’ right: Our leadership, our well-being.
Echo Network Africa Chief Executive officer Dr Jennifer Riria said girls and women deserve to live a dignified life as all human beings should.
In a speech read on her behalf by an official from her organisation, Dr Riria expressed concern that social vices still threaten teenage girls.
FGM
“Our girls are still being subjected to painful and dehumanising cultural practices such as Female Genital Mutilation. We still have remuneration disparities among genders with women taking home way less for performing similar jobs,” Dr Riria said at an event held at Bedie village in Lambwe, Homa Bay County.
She added: “The contribution women make doing unpaid work including nursing our babies and running homes, remains under-recognized and unrewarded.”
Dr Riria said women and girls still struggle to access clean water and affordable healthcare, with some still dying from childbirth.
She said more girls are also confronted by the triple threat of HIV, teenage pregnancies, and gender-based violence.
Many cases of defilement, mostly affecting girls from poor families, have been reported along beaches in the lake.
