Humanist

In characteristic ‘knee-jerk-combative-reaction-discourse’ that has unfortunately become normalised for some social media influencers in Uganda, the backlash has come fast and furious disparaging and denigrating First Lady Janet Kataaha Museveni for expressing her preference for menstruating Ugandan women to have access to and to use single-use disposal sanitary pads as opposed to multiple-use re-usable sanitary pads.

 “During her statement at the National Youth Convention, Ms Museveni complained about the name of the reusable pads, “Africa Pad”, possibly referring to AFRIPads, claiming it was degrading to Africa. Why are reusable sanitary towels called Africa? What does that mean? Furthermore, she wondered whether it was hygienically safe for the girls to use reusable sanitary pads. Why should our children be the ones to use reusable sanitary towels? Why?

Source: The Observer – First Lady Janet dismisses ‘degrading’ reusable sanitary pads.

The First Lady, is not the first and only Ugandan female to raise health and hygiene concerns regarding reusable pads. Many others, including women executives, such as I, and ‘poor grassroots women and girls’ to whom reusable pads are mostly targeted have raised our concerns.

“Reusable pads are okay, but in terms of hygiene no, no. Some of the girls don’t wash these reusable pads very well and end up getting infections instead. That area (vagina) can easily catch infections. And medication to treat such infections is another cost all together.”

Source: CPAR Uganda – Karimojong women’s concerns with reusable pads

“In rural and poverty-stricken communities, like Karamoja, buying soap and knickers might sound a luxury when one is lacking food to put on the table for the household. We have areas in Karamoja that have no access to clean water, what happens to the proper management of reusable pads?“

Source: CPAR Uganda – Why women not embracing reusable pads & the impact

Empirical studies in Uganda, in addition, have consistently confirmed that the overwhelming majority of menstruating women prefer and use single-use disposable pads. While a few who are unable to comfortably afford them, if given the choice, would prefer single-use disposable pads as well.

Case in point, 80.4 percent of participants in a study done at St. Paul’s Secondary School Kagoni in Mbarara preferred that all “used sanitary towels should be disposed.”

Source: CPAR Uganda – Reusable menstruation pads under scrutiny in Uganda

Sadly, the ‘knee-jerk-combative-reactions’ by Ugandan social media influencers are trending and are succeeding in diverting attention away from the First Lady’s valid critique of reusable pads. As well as diverting debate away from the real root cause of challenges menstruating women face, which is stigma.

Even within the First Lady’s critique questioning why sanitary pads are called Africa, stigma can be deduced. The kind of stigma that instigates and nurtures among women “emotions of shame, embarrassment and disgust relating to menses.”

Because of stigma there is a tendency for women to refer to “menstruation using euphemistic terms or language about dirtiness.”

Source: Journal Article – The state of mind tells me it’s dirty”: menstrual shame amongst women using a vaginal ring in Sub Saharan Africa.

Due to stigma, consequently, women commonly tie menstruation blood to “notions of pollution, danger and evil, which compels us in Uganda to consider this biological process a ‘taboo’.”

Source: Journal Aritlce –  In Stigma of staining? Negotiating menstrual taboos amongst young women in Kenya

De facto, the First Lady’s critique, even though seemingly well-meaning for Africa, instead perpetuates stigma surrounding menstruation. As in why does a product that is used to soak up and retain menstruation blood, medical waste, which is an embarrassment, is disgusting, is dirty, is taboo have Africa as its brand name?

Considering that the Co-Founders of the social enterprise AFRIPads, Sophia Grinvalds and Paul Grinvalds, are not of African descent, it is plausible to deduce insinuation by the First Lady of a particular exogenous view that denigrates Africa.

I do not necessarily think that the Grinvalds were consciously deliberate to cause offense to Africans in choosing the brand name for their product. I think that, like many, they were simply culturally insensitive. And themselves constrained by, for lack of a better description, popular ‘white-saviour’ narratives on Africa.

In this context the narrative that period poverty is the cause of school drop outs in Africa.

It appears that both the First Lady and the co-founders of AFRIPad exemplify empirical research findings on matters menstrual hygiene management in and for Africa. In particular findings that policy makers are “constrained by the very stigma they sought to tackle, resulting in hesitancy and missed opportunities.”

Source: Journal Article –  The persistent power of stigma: A critical review of policy initiatives to break the menstrual silence and advance menstrual literacy.

As for me, I am convinced that the few girls in Uganda who are thought to be dropping out of school because they are unable to afford sanitary pads, if at all, are actually dropping out of school because of stigma.