Educating girls is advantageous for future livelihood security and socio economic development. Menstruating schoolgirls especially need to experience improved menstrual hygiene management (MHM) within schools in order to obtain quality education towards securing future as well as present wellbeing. This paper explores how menstruating schoolgirls’ opportunities are affected by insufficient water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) facilities in schools within Sub-Saharan Africa. The required information has been gathered through a qualitative research method using scientifically based material on the situation of MHM in Sub-Saharan African schools as well as semi-structured questionnaires alongside my personal recollection of MHM. Focus has been given to the capabilities of menstruating schoolgirls under existing WASH facilities in schools analysed through the Capability Approach. Effects of poor MHM in schools are known to cause discomfort and poor constructive participation during lessons as well as decreased school attendance. A gender-based approach has also been examined which presents most schools as non-conducive towards girl’s education promotion. / Utbildning är gynnsam för deras framtida försörjningsmöjligheter samt för socioekonomisk utveckling. Menstruerande skolflickor är mest utsatta under de otillräckliga sanitetsförhållanden som råder i flera skolor söder om Sahara. Den här rapporten utforskar skolflickors förmåga att sköta deras menshygien under skolvistelsen samt hur bristande sanitetsresurser påverkar flickornas framtida utsikter och akademiska kapacitet. Undersökningen är baserad på en kombination av kvalitativa metoder och material som vetenskapliga studier, en semistrukturerade enkätundersökning samt min egen erfarenhet av menshygien i skolor söder om Sahara. Fokus har tillägnats menstruerande skolflickors möjligheter att hantera deras mens i ohygieniska förhållanden genom att koppla detta till ”The Capability Approach”. Avsaknaden av fungerande sanitetsstrukturer försämrar skolflickors välmående vilket leder till nedsatt deltagande under lektioner samt minskad skolgång vid mens. En könsbaserad utgångspunkt har det också påvisat att skolorna är mindre anpassande för flickor.

During recent years the stigmatised phenomenon of menstruation has received increased attention, revealing various challenges faced by menstruating women and girls. The prevalence of these have shown to be particularly profound in low- and middle-income countries. Despite an enhanced understanding of how menstruators may be affected by having their periods the focus within the growing body of literature on Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM) remains narrow, often focusing solely on the practical aspects of MHM, whilst failing to acknowledge the social dimensions of menstruating. Women who work have been notably overlooked within the existing research, which almost exclusively has targeted schoolgirls. This study aims to widen the understanding of MHM, entailing both social and practical aspects. It also seeks to shed light on the experiences of working women, as a previously neglected group. To investigate how menstruation may affect women within their working environment, a field study with respondent interviews was conducted in Accra, Ghana. The narratives of the respondents, consisting of women working within the informal sector at markets, disclosed challenges that relate both to the social and practical aspects of MHM. The results point to the continued need for including working women in the research on MHM. It also demonstrates how practical and social aspects overlap and thus needs to be linked to gain a full understanding of menstruation and how it affects the menstruator.

Menstrual hygiene management (MHM) has for long been a neglected topic within development research, policy and practice, despite findings recognising how insufficient MHM poses obstacles to women and girls’ well-being and quality of life. Those living in low-resource settings are especially vulnerable to such challenges. This thesis aims to provide empirical evidence for the relationship between improved MHM and human development. Amartya Sen’s capability approach serves as the starting point, suggesting that development is the process of expanding capabilities to lead a life one has reason to value. It is argued that the use of menstrual cups enables the achievement of capabilities, by removing obstacles to these. This hypothesis is tested using material collected during a field study in Uganda. Two groups of women and girls have been interviewed and compared – one in which everyone is using menstrual cups, and one in which everyone is using pads or cloths. The results show that capabilities to a larger extent are achieved among the women and girls using menstrual cups, than among those using pads or cloths. Moreover, obstacles to capabilities were predominantly present in the second group. The findings thereby support the theoretical argument, demonstrating that the use of menstrual cups removes obstacles – positively impacting capabilities. This highlights the importance of considering MHM as a key aspect of sustainable development.

Suitable Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM) is necessary for the full enjoyment of human rights. In 2019, Scotland made history as the first country to take such a hands on approach to ensuring MHM, when it placed the ‘Period Products (Free Provision) (Scotland) Bill (2019)’ on its political agenda. The bill aims to provide free period products to all those who need, across the whole of Scotland. It also aims to combat the stigma that currently dominates menstruation discourses. This thesis takes a targeted approach and investigates the bill from the perspective of Agenda-Setting Theories to start the process of understanding how this issue gained a place on the Scottish political agenda. Specifically, it employs a discourse analysis to examine how the issue was defined in the bill at hand, in order to highlight key signs that might have impacted its success. The thesis finds that the bill makes an important connection between MHM and the social struggles for gender equality and socioeconomic equality which has the effect of increasing the social significance of the issue. Additionally the bill is found to situate itself within the framework of international human rights norms which has a legitimizing effect on its claim.

Women and men face differences in how they experience the work environment concerning health and safety and their needs within the workspace. Depending on age, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status, women and men face different stigmas, thus impacting their difficulties within their work environments. Owing to this knowledge, the purpose of this research was to explore this difference in the workplace and understand how women experience the workplace differently. Specifically, from a perspective of embodiment and the needs, women are often inclined to have as a result of biology in the workplace. This insightful study explored the personalisation of embodiment by examining the diversified understanding of embodied needs of women that existed within different levels of an organisational hierarchy and had varied roles that required different levels of skills, manual labour, and knowledge. Using qualitative interviews and a phenomenological approach, the realities of these women with different embodied needs, and embodied stages were explored. The central insight being that while women may suffer the same injustices in the workplace and share the same biology, their embodied needs and experience still vary and cannot be painted with the same brush. Through this qualitative insight, key themes such as pregnancy and maternal needs, workplace accommodations, women clinic services and women workplace accommodations were identified as components of the female embodied needs. This exploratory study brought light to this understanding by exploring the varied experience of 12 participants.

This study investigates what role menstruation have for women in the village of Nakwa, Tanzania; how inadequate MHM affects the perception of women; and how menstruation is affecting the gender equality within a marriage in Nakwa. Most women in Nakwa village struggle to maintain high standards of cleanliness regarding their own Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM). This is due to many contributing factors relating to ingrained cultural beliefs that menstruation is something shameful and dirty. Most males within the household manage the finances, and menstrual hygiene products are not considered a priority, which further detaches the women from the possession of power over their own MHM. The theoretical framework used in this study is built upon two pillars, the woman as the inferior sex, and menstruation as something dirty and polluting, contributing to menstrual shame. These pillars are constructed upon two academic works; The Second Sex (1953) by Simone De Beauvoir, and Purity and Danger (1984) by Mary Douglas. Substantive previous research is accounted for to support the two pillars. Two weeks of field studies in Nakwa village during February and March 2017 included 23 individual semi-structured interviews and one group interview, with regularly menstruating married women. The results show a linkage between inadequate MHM, devaluation and inferiority of women and gender inequality.

In recent years, menstruation and menstruation hygiene products has had an increased interest, which has resulted in the topic being debated in many parts of the world. Change has been encouraged and some countries have acted to facilitate women's consumption of menstrual hygiene products. Sweden is not one of those countries, which means that menstrual hygiene products are neither free nor have reduced prices in the stores. Therefore, new business models such as online subscriptions need to be explored to increase the availability of menstrual hygiene products in the Swedish society. It can facilitate the buying process for women who consume the products, as the alternatives increase. The purpose of this thesis is to gain knowledge on how subscription-based business models influence the customer experience for women who consume menstrual hygiene products. New research is required to provide a perception of how subscriptions affect customers’ expectations and experience, which can result in a greater understanding of women's customer experience in this area. An interview guide was designed based on previous research and theories to be implemented in the focus groups which constituted the empirical findings. The findings were conducted by using a qualitative exploratory study of four focus groups with four participants in each. The thesis has used the conceptual framework when analyzing the empirical datawith the previous research to be able to identify patterns, similarities and differences. The conclusion of this thesis is that subscriptions to menstrual hygiene products can generate benefits that differ from one-time purchases. Menstruation and menstrual hygiene products is a sensitive topic that requires greater availability on the swedish market and subscriptions are one option. Identified touchpoints are flexibility, convenience, simplicity and time savings, which has a positive effect on the customer experience. Although, customer experience is defined differently and has individual meanings depending on the person. Therefore, it is challenging to measure the customer experience as the influencing factors vary between different people. Though, preferences for what affects the customer experience differ tosome extent between the age groups. Some barriers have been identified and the most prominent is irregular menstruationwhich can make subscriptions more complicated.