Addressing Gray Areas of Bangladesh’s National Menstrual Hygiene Management Strategy by Following Menstrual Justice Lens

Abstract

Similar to other nations, the government of Bangladesh implements diverse departmental strategies for the advancement and development of the country to achieve the intended results. Since the goal of strategic planning is to accomplish the desired outcome through the definition of long-term targets, strategy review is required for better decision-making and an increased likelihood of reaching strategic objectives. However, Bangladesh spent some time developing the national strategy paper on Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM), taking into account the fundamental rights of all girls and women in the country, including health, education, and economic opportunities in 2021, with the main goal being to close the gaps in the country's present MHM procedures for the 54 million menstruation women and girls. In addition, given the complexity of menstruation, five guiding principles and eight strategic targets are identified for improving MHM practices. Can this plan improve the current state of MHM, even if the government has long realized the need to articulate distinct strategies? Methodologically, this study follows desk-based research, which includes relevant published journal articles, newspapers, and other forms to analyze the strategy paper critically. Theoretically, this study has been conducted following Johnson‘s menstrual justice lens, which promotes multidimensional intersectionality that is likely to be effective in all settings. This lens may help identify context-specific needs, requirements, and gray areas that lead to assessing and enhancing the power of strategic planning. In Bangladesh‘s MHM Strategy paper, Menstrual Justice Lens advocates for all menstruators in terms of inclusivity. This lens highlights the patriarchal standards that predominate in recommendations that lack appropriate gender-sensitive information. This review discovered that, in the education sector, a very subtle system of discriminatory teaching has become apparent. Despite the encouragement to reduce the price of sanitary napkins, affordability is not ensured for all menstruators in 2 to 3 years, and women's participation in decision-making is very limited, iii Addressing Gray Areas of Bangladesh‘s National Menstrual Hygiene Management Strategy by Following Menstrual Justice Lens which promotes gender inequality and period poverty due to all being directly generated from patriarchal notions. Therefore, by using this lens, the extended menstrual justice framework brings about crucial positive changes at multiple levels by addressing discrimination, promoting inclusivity, and developing a global environment where every menstruator can experience dignity and equity in all aspects of life. In the same way, the Government of Bangladesh's strategy paper needs to have a core critical argument based on formative analysis, thereby helping to make the strategy paper more practicable.