Vulnerabilities and Capacities in Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM) and Menstrual Health: A Gendered Perspective
(2022) VBRM15 20221Division of Risk Management and Societal Safety
- Abstract
- Menstrual hygiene management (MHM) is essential for those who menstruate because they have different needs during disasters and crises. Current MHM is focused on immediate needs instead of longer-term vulnerabilities and capacities. The purpose of this thesis is to examine how gendered vulnerabilities and capacities are considered in MHM policies and practice. The aim is to bring more focus to these vulnerabilities and capacities. This was done by conducting a document analysis with four chosen policies and five semi-structured interviews. A joint analysis was then done to contrast the policies and interviews. Lack of safety, privacy, and possibilities for upholding dignity emerged as a notable gendered vulnerability and community groups... (More)
- Menstrual hygiene management (MHM) is essential for those who menstruate because they have different needs during disasters and crises. Current MHM is focused on immediate needs instead of longer-term vulnerabilities and capacities. The purpose of this thesis is to examine how gendered vulnerabilities and capacities are considered in MHM policies and practice. The aim is to bring more focus to these vulnerabilities and capacities. This was done by conducting a document analysis with four chosen policies and five semi-structured interviews. A joint analysis was then done to contrast the policies and interviews. Lack of safety, privacy, and possibilities for upholding dignity emerged as a notable gendered vulnerability and community groups emerged as a notable gendered capacity in the contexts of development, disasters, and humanitarian crises. These are utilized in examining how vulnerabilities and capacities are considered in MHM currently. The main discussion in this thesis focuses on addressing root causes of vulnerabilities and the development of community groups further to fully utilize them as a capacity. In addition, the opportunities to make MHM policies and practice more inclusive of gender minorities are discussed. To improve current policies and practice, more focus needs to be put on vulnerabilities and capacities instead of immediate needs in the menstrual health field. More research needs to be conducted on the vulnerabilities and capacities as well as gender inclusion in relation to the menstrual health field. (Less)
- Popular Abstract
- Around half of the world’s population experiences menstruation and is affected by it to some extent. The topic is still widely a taboo and a restricted subject, but menstruation does not stop in crises. This is why rising awareness about the topic is necessary.
This thesis looks at menstrual hygiene management (MHM) which is a term used to describe menstruation related activities in development, disaster, and humanitarian contexts. Menstruators around the world face challenges when it comes to handling menstruation which increases their vulnerability. However, they also possess capacities which help with dealing with menstruation in these contexts. Previously the focus in this field has been on immediate needs that menstruation creates.... (More) - Around half of the world’s population experiences menstruation and is affected by it to some extent. The topic is still widely a taboo and a restricted subject, but menstruation does not stop in crises. This is why rising awareness about the topic is necessary.
This thesis looks at menstrual hygiene management (MHM) which is a term used to describe menstruation related activities in development, disaster, and humanitarian contexts. Menstruators around the world face challenges when it comes to handling menstruation which increases their vulnerability. However, they also possess capacities which help with dealing with menstruation in these contexts. Previously the focus in this field has been on immediate needs that menstruation creates. However, focusing on reducing vulnerabilities and building capacities has a longer-term positive effect. The goal of this thesis is to bring more focus on the vulnerabilities and capacities of menstruators while taking a gendered view on the topic. It includes discussions about gender minorities and acknowledging them in MHM.
A document analysis and interviews were combined to look at how gendered vulnerabilities and capacities are considered in global MHM policy and practice. This thesis found that lack of safety and privacy is a widely discussed vulnerability and community groups are a substantial capacity when it comes to menstrual management. In addition, there are some general challenges and opportunities for decreasing vulnerabilities and developing capacities that are discussed, such as the inclusion of gender minorities. These are useful when developing better menstrual health policies and practice in the future. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9090377
- author
- Ovaska, Inka Marlene LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- VBRM15 20221
- year
- 2022
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- Menstrual hygiene management, Menstrual health, Vulnerability, Capacity, Gender, Community groups, Disaster response, Humanitarian crises
- language
- English
- id
- 9090377
- date added to LUP
- 2022-08-08 10:00:41
- date last changed
- 2022-08-08 10:00:41
@misc{9090377,
abstract = {{Menstrual hygiene management (MHM) is essential for those who menstruate because they have different needs during disasters and crises. Current MHM is focused on immediate needs instead of longer-term vulnerabilities and capacities. The purpose of this thesis is to examine how gendered vulnerabilities and capacities are considered in MHM policies and practice. The aim is to bring more focus to these vulnerabilities and capacities. This was done by conducting a document analysis with four chosen policies and five semi-structured interviews. A joint analysis was then done to contrast the policies and interviews. Lack of safety, privacy, and possibilities for upholding dignity emerged as a notable gendered vulnerability and community groups emerged as a notable gendered capacity in the contexts of development, disasters, and humanitarian crises. These are utilized in examining how vulnerabilities and capacities are considered in MHM currently. The main discussion in this thesis focuses on addressing root causes of vulnerabilities and the development of community groups further to fully utilize them as a capacity. In addition, the opportunities to make MHM policies and practice more inclusive of gender minorities are discussed. To improve current policies and practice, more focus needs to be put on vulnerabilities and capacities instead of immediate needs in the menstrual health field. More research needs to be conducted on the vulnerabilities and capacities as well as gender inclusion in relation to the menstrual health field.}},
author = {{Ovaska, Inka Marlene}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Vulnerabilities and Capacities in Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM) and Menstrual Health: A Gendered Perspective}},
year = {{2022}},
}