Political aspects relate to the running of government and authority and power in how it is run in Kenya and how those things affect the program of access to feminine hygiene products and menstrual education.
Evidence indicates that politics of Kenya affects access to feminine hygiene products and menstrual education in the following major ways:
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Distribution
Tax
Awareness
Infrastructure
Political Aspect
Kenya's New Law
Kenya Celebrates their first World Menstruation Hygiene Day
Moon cup shows a new way to keep girls in school and to empower them
HuffPost 2017
Kenya’s president has passed a monumental law requiring girls be given free sanitary pads so girls no longer have to miss school because they are unable to properly manage their periods. This is a huge step that will dramatically improve education for girls, boost Kenya's economy, and promote better overall health by removing the need for transactional sex or makeshift sanitary products.
Distribution
Kenya seems leaps ahead of the western countries. Kenya’s Ministry of Health has begun creating a national menstrual hygiene management policy, reaching out to organizations like WASH United to craft a policy that is both fair and inclusive. One problem Kenya's program has faced is teachers stealing the products meant for schools. Some schools have taken to locking up the valuable products but this means girls have to go to a specific person to get what they need and this may discourage some from asking if they are embarrassed or ashamed. Though they recognize Menstrual health as a health issue, it is not directly mentioned in the SDG’s, though it affects a vast amount of them. Interestingly, in countries like the United States where a portion of the population relies on food stamps to afford basic necessities, MHM products are not covered yet energy drinks are.
Since 2011, Kenya’s government has been setting aside funds to buy and distribute pads and tampons to school girls. They have slowly been increasing how much they save for this endeavor. The idea is to give the schools the money and task them with buying the supplies as demand goes up and stock goes down. They are still finding a way to enforce schools to use this money on only this.
Tax
Awareness & Infrastructure
Menstruation health management has listed their priorities in this article, listing their six top priorities concerning menstrual health and education, making sure that girls are getting these supplies and more
Censorship
The article lists many examples of how periods are censored in the media, and how policies are double sided when it comes to anything regarding periods openly. Most states and other countries still impose a ‘luxury’ tax on menstrual products such as tampons and pads. They refuse to advertise reusable products in leau of disposable products to keep the capitalist market open. Education skims, explains myths not facts, or entirely skips the topic of menstruation and feminine hygiene, leaving girls unaware and unprepared. The article goes on to make the argument that periods are no longer a personal issue, they have become controlled by capitalism and male-dominated politics.
Faria Akram 2017
In this article, a females Instagram user heard of other Instagram accounts being banned for showing menstrual blood. No nudity or sexual acts, just some blood. In a world where violence is becoming more rampant and children are growing up with video games, TV shows, and news stories that freely show blood, the very mention of menstruation before the word blood seem to makes it an entirely different substance. Louelle Denor posted a picture of herself, fully clothed, but with bloody fingers and a caption that stated menstrual cups were great but messy to remove. In response she was told to kill herself and that “Feminazis should be put in a shower dispersing male semen onto their faces”.
When a company who sells period underwear got the opportunity to submit an ad for a public transit system in New York, they were prohibited due to the guidelines that read “no sexual or excretory activities” or advertisements that promote “Sexually oriented business”. A representative even told them that if they kept the image that contained the tagline “For women with Periods” they would not approve it. This is a continuous show of how censorship is being used to hurt women socially. They cannot freely talk about this topic in any part of the world.
Artist Rupi Kaur created a mini photo series depicting periods and posted them to social media sites like Tumblr and Instagram. It hadn’t even been 24 hours when Instagram flagged and removed the images for violating their guidelines. In the pictures she is fully clothed and not acting in a lewd fashion by any means, but because of a suggested fake blood stain the photo was removed. Social policies or social norms are as real as those in the Bill of Rights. People are afraid of their peer’s reactions and will conform to avoid rejection or adversity, even on social media.
Periods have always been heavily censored in the media; it’s why tampon commercials use blue liquid to demonstrate absorbibility instead of red. In the United States, advertising MHM products was banned until the 1970s.
When Kiran Gandhi, M.I.A’s drummer, woke up to run a marathon she found she was on her period. Instead of experiencing the immense discomfort that is running any amount of distance with a tampon, let alone 26 miles, in your vagina, she decided to run without one. She ran 26 miles ‘free-bleeding’, which left her with highly stained pants and an onslaught of negative comments from people of all gender and age.
Social Norms
To state it bluntly, menstruation has become like a curse not only to the women and girls but to society in general on the continent. Because menstruation is largely a private act, the social damage is hidden and never makes the news headlines.
Twitter user Rush Howard and her friend stood outside British parliament bleeding through their white trousers to protest the tax on feminine hygiene products. While products are still out of reach for many women in Kenya, at least they have made strides to get rid of the luxury tax formally imposed on MHM products. If these products are sold luxury items, then why are women shamed when they go without these products?
This article gives a brief introduction to the 50 minute podcast linked on their site. The podcast goes into detail on how menstruation became political. How not being able to talk about a normal biological function above a whisper does some serious harm to those trying to break myths and stereotypes surrounding periods.
One issue though, is that in the first couple minutes the NPR reporter warns listeners that they will be talking about the body in frank terms and to maybe listen away from the kids. The reporter in question may not have intended it, but even something as simple as saying kids can’t listen to this is part of the problem. Censoring your child from talks about normal biological functions that nearly half the population go through is damaging to what they may grow up to think about it, thus continuing the cycle of stereotypes and stigmas.