POLICY AND PRACTICE REVIEWS article
Front. Glob. Women’s Health
Sec. Contraception and Family Planning
Volume 6 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fgwh.2025.1560404
This article is part of the Research TopicClimate, Gender, and Sexual and Reproductive Health - Intersectional Approaches and EvidenceView all 3 articles
Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights and Climate Change about Menstrual Discrimination: A Policy Review in the Context of Nepal
Provisionally accepted
- 1Other, Kathmandu, Nepal
- 2Global South Coalition for Dignified Menstruation, Kathmandu, Nepal
- 3Tribhuvan University, Kirtipur, Nepal
- 4Research Centre for Educational Innovation and Development, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal
- 5Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, United States
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The conversation around climate, sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) and menstruation is increasing more than ever in Nepal. The discussion between climate and SRHR is more visible and it endeavors to develop the relationship between them. The claim of the role of menstrual discrimination [MD] is the construction and reinforcement of power and patriarchy demands unveiling MD as an underlying barrier for gender-responsive climate or SRHR interventions. In this vein, this study reviewed the national policies of climate change and SRHR with MD. It aims to examine the positioning of MD in to ongoing policies around SRHR and climate change (CC). It is crucial to accelerate the impact of interventions related to SRHR and CC for achieving broader gender justice and human rights. The policy-related documents regarding CC and SRHR are reviewed. The visible and invisible MD is rampant across the country regardless of class, caste, region, or religion. The government of Nepal started to work on SRHR in 2000, though the specific policies on dignified menstruation were made in 2017. MD is missed across all the conversations of CC though it talks about gender equality and social inclusion policies (GESI). The GESI policies and programs do not spell out the discrimination related to menstruation and its impact throughout the life, and the SRHR policy has the similar impact. MD is one of the missing dimensions regarding power relations, patriarchy, climate, and SRHR. This study recommends a thorough unpacking of MD, including its impact, incorporating the strategies to dismantle MD in both SRHR and ensuring CC-related policies and programs for real equality and inclusion. The findings of this research become helpful to policy-makers during intervention planning to overcome the situation.
Keywords: Dignified Menstruation, Gender Equality, patriarchy, power, social inclusion
Received: 14 Jan 2025; Accepted: 12 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Paudel, Acharya and Adhikari. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Radha Paudel, Other, Kathmandu, Nepal
Tejaswi Mili Adhikari, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, United States
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