Break The Silence On Periods, Change Mindsets

Let us break the silence, change mindsets and start openly talking about periods.

This was the sentiment shared today at the Fiji Women’s Rights Movement Let’s Talk Periods festival held in Suva to mark World Menstrual Health Day this week.

Opening the event, FWRM Governance Board Chair called for an end to the stigma on periods and advocating for better WASH facilities in schools.

The annual event, with almost 180 participants from different communities around Suva, is a platform used to share awareness and information about menstruation and its related issues.

“Whatever that is held as taboo does not make sense now - times have changed. We need to talk about periods, we need to make our voices louder so that we can have respectable dignified experiences when we get our periods and unless we have those open and honest conversations, we are never going to come out of this cycle of stigmatising periods. It is our responsibility to ensure that our menstrual needs and health is well taken care of,” FWRM Executive Director Nalini Singh said.

Ms Singh made the remarks during an intergenerational panel facilitated during the programme that included shared experiences from panelists in their different stages of the menstrual cycle.

“Periods are normal. It is natural. It is your body talking to you. If you don’t get your period, then you know something is wrong. It is not something you should be ashamed of, it’s a living breathing rhythm that reminds me of the fact that I am a woman,” said Jessica Work, International Planned Parenthood Fiji representative.

Another panelist, Shurti Sharma, a graduate of FWRM’s Grow.Inspire.Relate.Lead.Succeed (GIRLS) Program highlighted the need for schools to integrate menstrual health and hygiene learning in the curriculum.

“Make safe spaces in schools for students to talk openly about menstruation and the experiences you go through. A lot of the times, teachers are often shying away from these conversations and the risk is messages and information are often not being shared accurately, “Shurti said.

FWRM believes in more awareness and information on sexual and reproductive health in our educational curriculums, especially targeted towards our girls. Comprehensive Sexuality Education would ensure that topics such as menstrual health and hygiene is delivered in a much more effective way.

Other issues raised during the event was the need to provide free menstrual products and to avail them in schools, restrooms, prisons and other public places; the removal of the shame of being on your period and the need for men to attend such events to learn more about women’s bodies and to understand the experiences women have with their periods.

The programme included partners who collaborated with FWRM to open up booths for information sharing and awareness on a range of issues such as menstrual health and hygiene, myths, taboos, reproductive health, bodily autonomy and more.

Let’s Talk Periods 2025 was supported by the Australian Government in partnership with Pacific Menstrual Health Network and Water Aid.

“It begins with us. Those of you who have come here, you have probably come with younger members of your families. It is up to you now to go back and have conversations about normalising periods beginning from your homes,”Ms Singh added.

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