International Menstrual Hygiene Day

"Today is International Menstrual Hygiene Day a global movement to raise the importance of good menstrual hygiene, so it's a great time to reflect back to Rail Unites for Inclusion gender conference in March at the London Transport Museum where I facilitated a Period Dignity workshop.

How many of you have just cringed? Yes I said it period dignity 😂 please don't scroll on by, it's important, you will know someone you care about who has periods. Considering I once worked for a line manager who told me to stop using the word in the office, we are gradually shifting towards a more inclusive industry.

It was a fantastic and at times enlightening conversation even for me someone who has 40+years of experience in this area.

We took away:

🫶🏾 kindness is key for line managers, 

💡 every women's experience is different (what's heavy or painful for one person might not be for someone else), 

🤔 every woman's cycle journey might be different too so what they need in their 30s might look different in their 50s.

😭 Each woman will have their own period emotional journey whether that's coping with having periods when trying for a baby and that period is signalling failure 😢

💞 Fathers can be part of the conversation with their daughters too.

In our amazing industry we need to ensure all our workforce has access to toilets as well as our passengers and products being available whether depot, signal box or office. For example do our freight train drivers have toilet access?

We need to normalise period discussions everywhere so women and girls are not ashamed of them. How many women have hidden a tampon or pad up their sleeve because they don't want to bring attention to taking their bag to the loo, but not even aware that they are doing that because we have been conditioned to.

Thank you to the group for being so open in the discussion (which interestingly had more men sign up for than women), the reflection being that women might be embarrassed to share in this space or they don't feel they have anything to learn in this space, so went to the workshops where they could learn.

Thank you for reading thus far - some non industry thinking points - are those people that are surviving wars, invasions or critical weather related devastations able to practice good menstrual hygiene today? 

Without water? Without adequate sanitary protection? Whilst fearing for their lives? The theme for today is hashtag#PeriodFriendlyWorld those in those situations most certainly won't be 😢"