Op-Ed: Decreasing the Stigma around Menstruation to Promote Equity in Schools

As I think back to all the times I’ve had to miss school throughout my life, a number of reasons come to mind. I’ve missed school due to illness, vacations, extracurricular activities, or family emergencies. One reason that doesn’t come to mind when I think about the times I’ve been absent? My period. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case for many students in the United States. According to one study, 1 in 5 girls in the United States have missed school because of a lack of access to menstrual products. These statistics make me wonder: How does menstruation affect the success of students? What can we do to promote menstrual equity in our schools to ensure an equal opportunity for all students to learn?

To answer this question, we must first define what is meant by “menstrual equity.” One author describes it as the need for policies to ensure everyone has access to menstrual products. She notes that if everyone has access, we can create a society where all people can participate in a way that’s healthy and dignified. She emphasizes that access to menstrual products should not be compromised by poverty, stigma, or a lack of education. To me, zoning in on the part about stigma is most crucial in working towards menstrual equity. Why aren’t there many policies in place in schools already to help promote equity through access to the necessary products? I think it’s because we don’t want to talk about periods.

Historically, there has been such a negative stigma put on menstruation that it is not surprising to me that it hasn’t been at the forefront of discussions about equity in our schools. Society has painted a shameful portrait of a natural phenomenon for so long that young women often feel embarrassed about their periods. Even in my own classroom, I’m guilty of fueling the stigma, albeit unintentionally. I’ve told elementary students that they’re allowed to use the staff restroom when they’re having their period. This was because I was worried about the reactions of other students seeing wrappers in the co-ed restroom in our classroom. Though this was meant to make students feel comfortable and supported, it makes me wonder: why might students have negative reactions in the first place? Why are we allowing the shameful stigma around menstruation continue in our classrooms? I feel that if schools aren’t creating a supportive environment for young women, the message they send to students is clear: their needs aren’t important and school is not the place to discuss them. To combat this, Teaching Tolerance suggests that teachers are in a unique position to become advocates and challenge the stigma.

It is the job of many teachers to educate their students about menstruation in elementary school health class. Oftentimes, this is the first exposure to the menstrual cycle that a child receives. I think that teachers need to take advantage of this opportunity to squash the stigma around a natural phenomenon that occurs in women’s bodies. I believe that if teachers push back on the stigma around menstruation from the beginning of kids’ exposure to the topic, it will help promote conversations about the topic. Open conversations about menstruation can help normalize it and lessen the ideas of it being unsanitary and shameful. Two suggestions from Teaching Tolerance for ways in which teachers can push back on the stigma have stood out to me when thinking about menstrual equity. First, they suggest creating a curriculum (or adapting an existing one) that ensures students will understand the menstrual cycle. They also suggest discouraging negative language associated with menstruation. Some examples include referring to it as “that time of the month” and degrading girls about their temperament using terms such as “PMSing.” I feel that both of these suggestions are important steps in addressing the aspect of menstrual equity through decreased stigmatization.

As a teacher, I know the stress and pressure of teaching the required content in a school year. Because of this, I understand why some teachers and schools may not want the added responsibility of ensuring they are teaching the menstrual cycle in depth. With the amount of work required to plan lessons and meet all the requirements, it may seem crazy to add more content to a health curriculum. If the curriculum meets state requirements for teaching about the menstrual cycle, why put in the extra work to do more than just teach the basics? I urge teachers, administrators, and even curriculum developers to think about it from a new lens. If putting in the extra work in planning means that less students will miss valuable instructional time due to period-related absences, won’t it be worth it? To me, extra hours planning and adapting health lessons in exchange for increased opportunities in success for my students seems like a very good deal.

When thinking about ways in which we can meet our students where they are at, it is important to address the topics that are sometimes uncomfortable to talk about. If teachers, parents, and other trusted adults set the precedent for breaking the stigma around menstruation, we can help open the door for policy advancements in our schools. These advancements may lead to increased access to menstrual products in schools, healthier young women, less period-related absences, and most importantly, equitable opportunities for our students to learn.