Comparative study on the influence of international development on menstruation: From the perspective of gender and medicalization

Keywords

menstruation,gender,medicalization　

Objectives

In recent years, the management of menstruation has been emphasized from perspectives such as improving the female school enrollment rate, gender equality, and water and hygiene environment in the field of international development. Different countries have begun to formulate and implement policies on menstrual hygiene management. And menstrual products such as paper sanitary napkins are distributed in global markets and affecting menstruation management. In this way, menstruation is managed in the female body though politico-economic circuits as a universal phenomenon. However, how menstruation is viewed and managed depends on local conventions. Societies that shun the physiological phenomenon of menstruation are prevalent throughout the world, and in cultural anthropology this has been conceptualized as “pollution” along with the impurity of birth, death, and other physiological phenomena.
In this research project we will conduct a cross-cultural comparison on the influence that development intervention has on menstruation management and the culture surrounding menstruation around the world, from two perspectives — gender and the medicalization of menstruation. The objective of the project is to identify the cross-cultural and distinctively local characteristics of the landscape surrounding menstruation in the contemporary period since the management of menstruation has become an international development issue.

Research Results

This inter-university research project was developed as a successor project to the Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B) project “A Comparative Study on Local Situations Surrounding Menstruation that Became a Global Issue ” (Project Leader: Elli W. Sugita ), to which new members were added. Compared to the Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research project, which was based on the theme of developmental support in the form of menstrual hygiene management and focused on female students who had just started menstruating, this project was based on the theme of gender and considered each life stage of women—menarche, menstruation, and menopause.
During the three-and-a-half year project, which includes delays due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the inter-university project researchers reported specific cases in regard to how the physical phenomenon of menstruation—something which women cannot control—is viewed by society that also includes men. It was also pointed out that there is relatively little cultural anthropology research on menstruation. The few studies that there are treat it as a custom or concept and contain little mention of the state of menstruation management or what materials are used in menstruation management.
The members of this inter-university research project comprised not only those with a foothold in cultural anthropology, but also researchers specializing in fields such as development anthropology, political science, sports, and development. Taking up phenomena that surround menstruation as the theme, the members also created a report that strives for gender equality by examining the provision of menstruation support.
Through workshops, the project yielded the following results: We gained the knowledge that the menstruating body and the consciousness and life course of that person can be examined from the perspective of the materials and opinions related to menstruation. Going forward, we aim to publish a book written by the project members.