Meghan Markle calls for an end to ‘puritanical bashfulness’ around menstruation
PRINCE Harry’s girlfriend Meghan Markle has penned a candid essay about the shame girls face for having their periods.
PRINCE Harry’s girlfriend Meghan Markle is campaigning for women’s rights, penning an essay for Time magazine about the stigma Indian girls face around menstruation.
Markle’s article, titled How Periods Affect Potential, details Markle’s trip to India as part of her role as an ambassador for World Vision.
In it, the Suits actor, 35, writes: “During my time in the field, many girls shared that they feel embarrassed to go to school during their periods, ill equipped with rags instead of pads, unable to participate in sports and without bathrooms available to care for themselves, they often opt to drop out of school entirely,” Markle said in the piece, published on Time.com.
“One hundred and thirteen million adolescent girls between the ages of 12-14 in India alone are at risk of dropping out of school because of the stigma surrounding menstrual health,” Markle said in her post, to coincide with International Women’s Day.
The would-be royal pleads: “To break the cycle of poverty, and to achieve economic growth and sustainability in developing countries, young women need access to education”.
Markle stated that 23 per cent of Indian girls skip school when they have their periods, putting their education levels 145 days behind their male classmates.
“To that I say: we need to push the conversation, mobilise policy making surrounding menstrual health initiatives, support organisations who foster girls’ education from the ground up, and within our own homes, we need to rise above our puritanical bashfulness when it comes to talking about menstruation,” she wrote, according to Time.com.
“Beyond India, in communities all over the globe, young girls’ potential is being squandered because we are too shy to talk about the most natural thing in the world.”
The stunning brunette, who is fast gaining a reputation as a humanitarian, has become a tabloid favourite since she started dating Prince Harry last year.
Markle is an ambassador for World Vision — a role that Harry’s late mother, Princess Diana, also held.
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