Break the Barriers: Girl’s Experiences of Menstruation in the UK

Decades of global experience tell us that due to their gender and their age, adolescent girls are particularly vulnerable to having their rights denied. In 2016, our State of Girls’ Rights in the UK report1 showed that here in the UK there are also specific challenges for girls, as well as many of the same problems of gender-based violence, discrimination and gender stereotypes that hold girls back around the world. Girls are not only feeling unsafe in schools, on the streets and online, but their education, career choices and ability to be heard are also being negatively impacted. Having listened to the concerns of girls in the UK about their rights more broadly, Plan International UK wanted to explore some areas of specific concern more thoroughly, such as digital rights, street harassment and relationships and sex education. This report therefore seeks to examine a key issue for girls – menstrual stigma and taboo – and expose the negative impacts on their lives and the solutions that could challenge this stigma and address its impacts.

https://plan-uk.org/file/plan-uk-break-the-barriers-report-032018pdf/download?token=Fs-HYP3v