I beg to move,
That leave be given to bring in a Bill to make provision about the teaching of menstrual and gynaecological health in certain educational settings; to provide for training, guidance and resources to support such teaching; to provide that training includes content about awareness of racial discrimination in menstrual and gynaecological health; to require the Secretary of State to take steps to increase public understanding of menstrual and gynaecological health, including measures to counter inaccurate or misleading information online relating to menstrual and gynaecological health; and for connected purposes.
In this Bill, I am addressing one aspect of women’s health: menstrual health. Menstrual health is surrounded by misinformation, fear and a failure to support millions of women and girls. For women who menstruate, their experience of asking for advice or even medical treatment is routinely dismal—ask any woman from their school days onwards. It is a nightmare of stigma, shame and a failure of the NHS to help. The recent Women and Equalities Committee report states:
“Stigma around menstruation, sex, fertility and childlessness is a barrier to discussion of reproductive ill health. It contributes to delays in diagnosis and treatment, and can lead women and girls to turn to online forums to self-diagnose or to avoid seeking treatment altogether.”
That self-diagnosis can be misguided and dangerous, fed by dubious online claims and fake cures. The internet is not a safe place for clear expert advice for girls and women wanting to know about their periods and menstrual health.
A poll commissioned by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists found that more than half—53%—of women in the UK who had experienced symptoms of pelvic floor dysfunction did not seek help from a healthcare professional. One in five—21%—felt too embarrassed to seek support. In 2018, a YouGov poll found that period shaming happens at home, in the workplace and at school in the UK.
The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists further noted:
“There is an immense societal pressure on women and girls to conceal their periods due to beliefs that menstruation is unhygienic or unclean, and talking openly about periods is often not considered as a social norm.”
We live in a modern-day society with an openness to addressing all manner of health issues, including mental health, yet talking about menstrual health remains stigmatised, shrouded in shame, embarrassment and the frankly medieval attitudes held by many.
In the call for evidence for the women’s health strategy, 29% of respondents said that they did not feel comfortable talking to healthcare professionals about gynaecological conditions. For teenage girls aged 16 and 17, that figure rose to 40%. Those shocking figures show that this stigma has real-world consequences for women’s health. Women and girls get the wrong advice, dangerous advice or no advice. Their shame means that their conditions and diseases are not diagnosed. Sadly, conditions such as endometriosis, adenomyosis, fibroids, polycystic ovary syndrome, pelvic inflammatory disease, pelvic organ prolapse and ovarian cysts are far too often missed, leaving many women to endure years of unnecessary pain.