11/07/2024
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On the Menstrual Health Crisis in the Palestinian Genocide
Imagine having blood constantly leaking from your body but being unable to access any sort of sanitary products or even clean water to wash yourself. Imagine having acute pains in your stomach but not having access to any types of painkillers and aiding medicine. Imagine experiencing the anxiety of having a natural body phenomenon that used to happen monthly but now only comes once every two to three months due to excessive survival stress and grief.
Now, imagine living in that reality for eight months while suffering from being bombed, violated, displaced from your own homes, and witnessing your loved ones falling at the gunpoint of armed troops. That—and so much more—has been the life of Palestinian women in Gaza ever since October 2023. In honor of World Menstrual Hygiene Day, we would like to invite you to delve deeper into these women’s lived experiences and how their reproductive health — specifically menstruation — intertwines with the ongoing genocide and violence.
On the menstruating realities of women in Palestine
As recently reported by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), almost 700,000 women and young girls are experiencing menstruation in Gaza, and an estimated number of 10 million disposable menstrual pads would be needed to meet the basic reproductive needs of these menstruating women. However, the reality is that the availability of menstrual products in war zones, which was never adequate to begin with, is getting more and more scarce as Israeli armed troops have intensified their attacks and efforts to block out humanitarian aid packages. As reported from the ground by International Aid, women in the Gaza Strip have started to use “scraps of tent in place period products” since the beginning of this year.
Not just the lack of hygiene products, the lack of access to hygienic facilities is also alarming. With women being displaced to refugee camps, the matter of toilet facilities and clean water becomes a major issue. There are long lines for toilets that serve up to 1,000 people, and they are oftentimes overcrowded, unsanitary, and exposed—making “the use of the bathroom…[a] rationed [one].” Menstruating people in these zones have resorted to cutting down showers and washing their underwear with dirty water.
Furthermore, menstruation is a hormonal phenomenon and can be impacted by the amount of stress the person endures. One could only then imagine how much living amid the warzone of genocide and going to bed each night, wondering if it’s their last, can influence the occurrence of menstrual periods. Some women have experienced extremely irregular periods, from a couple of times a month to zero in a few months, with excessive pain and mental distress.
As a result, many Palestinian women and young girls have chosen to take norethisterone tablets to delay their periods. This choice, as apparent as it is, is not a ‘choice.’ It is the last resort that these resilient women have succumbed to in order to minimize the discomfort and focus on surviving.
Concluding notes: on women’s reproductive health during wars
Wars are deeply violent, and they are deeply patriarchal. They manifest the colonial and patriarchal desire of conquering, possession, and attainment via violence. In the eyes of wars, there is no place to consider injustice against women, especially those concerned with their sexuality and bodies. History of women’s sexuality and reproductive health in wars has shown us that the matter is only brought to war-enablers’ attention when it is exploitable. From notorious incidents such as comfort women during Japan’s imperialist era to the ongoing assaults of Burmese women in Myanmar, one can easily track down the pattern that sexual violence—a patriarchal form of war violence—is the only chance where women’s bodies are ‘seen.’ Otherwise, they are deemed ‘trivial’ and/or ‘unimportant,’ especially when it comes to a highly stigmatized issue like menstruation.
Knowing this, we would like to look at the matter of the menstrual crisis in Palestine right now from a more sophisticated lens by asserting that it is not only a health crisis but also an extreme case of gender-based violence and violation of basic human rights. In honor of Menstrual Hygiene Day and their vision of a world, we push for adequate humanitarian aid for menstruating women and young girls in Gaza, their access to sanitary facilities, and an immediate ceasefire.
No one is liberated until all are liberated, and there is no world until all menstruating people have their basic needs met.
