Although most women have to live with menstruation for nearly 40 years, people rarely discuss it in Japan, a country that ranks 120 out of 156 countries in the World Economic Forum’s 2021 Gender Gap Index. In fact, menstruation is close to a taboo subject. When someone purchases sanitary products at a Japanese convenience store or supermarket, for example, the checker will always wrap them in an opaque paper bag, assuming it is embarrassing to be seen with them.

Early in 2020, Plan International Japan, an international NGO that works to empower children and women, surveyed 2,000 Japanese women between the ages of 15 and 24. The results highlighted the stigma, or “period shame,” associated with menstruation. Many respondents shared that they were embarrassed to buy sanitary supplies themselves or to ask their parents or guardians to buy them for them. And almost 30 percent of respondents said they were embarrassed about their period when colleagues or classmates found out about it.

At the same time, girls and women around the world are also facing severe shortages of sanitary products, sharp rises in product prices, and a lack of access to basic information and services, in part due to COVID-19. This phenomenon, often referred to as “period poverty,” is not reserved for women in developing countries. In the same survey mentioned above, one out of three respondents said they have hesitated or were unable to buy sanitary products for reasons including “low income” and “sanitary products are expensive.”

Read the full article about eliminating period shame in Asia by Noriko Akiyama, Fan Li and Wenqian Xu at Stanford Social Innovation Review.