Overview:
Menstrual Health and Hygiene Management ( MHHM ) remains a neglected area in Pakistan’s education system, where societal taboos and policy gaps prevent young girls from accessing essential knowledge. Millions of girls face challenges going beyond menstruation because of that. Leading to school absenteeism, poor health outcomes, early child marriages and long-term gender inequalities, limiting girl’s opportunities and rights. This petition calls for urgent policy action by the Pakistani government to integrate MHHM (Menstrual Health and Hygiene Management)   education in school’s curriculum.

Petition Letter: 

As, young and current generation of women, we have taken this enormous task on ourselves to ensure that the next generation of young girls don't grow up in the shadows of silence. Never understanding their periods and letting a natural process dictate the course of their lives. With this urgency that a natural and normal process of menstruation has been weaponized against us, that no longer we want shame and silence associated with it, that we want our lives no longer at the mercy of societal interpretation of it, we are demanding structural and systemic change.

After witnessing first hand the devastating impact of inequalities originating from the cruel societal understanding of menstruation that has been handed down to all of us as normalcy over generations, we decided not to stand any longer silently and complicitly. Change has to come and we are starting it right now.

The knowledge we thought common, as part of our shamed privilege and deeply-rooted misconception, turned out to be criminally inaccessible. We saw young girls, relishing the three hour long Menstrual Health and Hygiene Management advocacy and awareness sessions, finally being able to understand what their bodies go through and tasting the normality for the very first time. A dream was conceived during those sessions. We wanted to create knowledge accessible to all the young girls. Accurate at its core, fun in its origin and accessible in their language. 

 

As we work actively to achieve this dream, we demand : 

1. MHHM (Menstrual Health and Hygiene Management ) education become part of education system formally or informally.
2. Access to essential period products is ensured in schools.
3. End to the harmful stigmas, myths and societal practices through education and mass-sensitisation

You might think it's just about periods. Where even that shouldn't be ignored given its the reality of 50% of the population. But we have come to realise that it’s so much more than that. A direct relation exists between discontinuation of a girl’s education and starting of her periods. In many parts across the country, the start of a girl’s period is translated into her readiness to get married, no matter the age she is getting her period. The earliest age recorded is 8 for menarche. This starts a vicious cycle of early child births, gender based violence, financial dependency, lack of bodily autonomy and most importantly unfulfilled potential. 

We are demanding a future where no girl has to live through period poverty ever again. Actions and decisions at your part will ensure that. Bold actions, long-term commitments and sustainable solutions will ensure our victory over period poverty. We have lived long enough in a world with it, there is no harm in envisioning and actively working towards one where it doesn’t. A period positive Pakistan.

Your support, by signing this petition, will ensure that you add your voice to this red revolution. So we can all proudly say once upon a future, period poverty was a tale of a long forgotten past. We have faith in the power of youth because we know this: we are many and we will prevail. 

Sincerely,
The Super Saheliyan.