What Does Menstruation Have To Do With Age?
Roseanne Barr’s remark on how she doesn’t mind Pre-Menstrual Syndrome (PMS) because she can be herself reminded me of my own privilege to mostly be able to do the same. My ability to normalise my period and associated symptoms are what makes me realise my privilege.
As someone prone to cramps and mood swings, I have never really had to apologise for not behaving in an ‘acceptable manner’. Being a student still, the ability to take an off when I feel like it comes more as a personal choice than any other. In the same reality exists my mother going through the same symptoms on a higher level, yet choosing to power through irrespective of the symptoms because she cannot avoid her work and deadlines will always trump cramps.
Then there’s our domestic help who chose to come to work (pre-COVID) despite the same symptoms because the lunch break at her employer’s house is a luxury she is never afforded in her own home. This being the result of her family’s mindset where women and rest don’t go along.
A Youth ki Awaaz survey found that a higher percentage of younger people are affected by period-related issues in comparison to older women. In the case of period cramps, 70% of younger women cited it as a reason for hindered productivity, in comparison to 43% of older women.
When I first read this, the first question that came to my mind was ‘What if most younger ones can afford to acknowledge these effects than their older counterparts?’
Productivity And Periods
Lack of sensitivity around the concept of menstruation is yet another burden on those who bleed. The bliss afforded by the lack of acknowledgement of periods is a gross disadvantage, the impact of which menstruating individuals face.
The YKA study also found that 66.3% of menstruators suffered from period cramps, followed by tiredness and fatigue by 50.9 %. This means that physical symptoms tend to have the most effect on productivity, the mere numbers are reason enough to increase awareness.
Having the right to push pause without feeling guilty about it should not be dictated by social norms of what counts as work and what does not.
While menstruation/period leave is a great step in acknowledging the impact menstruation has on women, there have been plenty of problems that plague the concept. Whether it’s the fear that this will be used as a negative bias while hiring women, like the maternity leave, has been or the fact that it will increase the difference in treatment meted out in the workplace.
The fact that the concept is limited to formal workspaces is another feature that makes it more of an idealistic policy than an ideal one. A daily wage labourer would choose to work through the pain than be denied a day’s wage. Someone like my own domestic help would choose to come to work as well solely to be afforded an actual break for a mere hour than none at her home.
There is a need to make the narrative more humane and let people catch a break without having to justify all the time, irrespective of whether it is in work or home environment. Menstruation is a public health phenomenon and treating it as such would go a long way in contributing to a community better equipped physically, emotionally and mentally.
Menstruation Beyond Bleeding
Owing to the still patriarchal mindset of society, the conversation around menstruation for the longest time was limited to the temporary impurity of being a woman solely because we bleed for a couple of days.
The recent wave of period awareness primarily focuses on normalising and at times, even glorifying the same yet singular bleeding aspect.
This is often at the expense of forgetting that it is a bodily function with so many physical, mental, and emotional symptoms.
There is still a considerable gap in the conversation when it comes to accepting that sometimes going through menstruation is plain ugly, from rashes to acne and to irregular flow. The process involves setbacks which arrive before the bleeding part and stay back even when said blood is gone.
The concept of menstruation is steeped with so much social stigma that we forget that so many of these symptoms don’t have to be as bad as they are if proper medical accessibility is ensured. If we truly want to focus on ending period poverty and stigma, access to proper, informed, and unbiased medical aid is of the absolute essence.
Given that almost 90.2% respondents of the YKA study replied in affirmative when asked if they experience any health effects due to menstruation, it is high time we open up the conversation to include these effects the good, the bad and the ugly.
Note: You can access the survey conducted by YKA and WSSCC here.