Public Policies on Menstrual Health in Brazil: Perspectives through the Lens of Menstrual Social Movements

Abstract

The objective of this article is to demonstrate how the issue of menstruation was, for decades, off the public agenda and, although the Menstrual Health and Dignity Protection and Promotion Program was recently created, the expanded agendas surrounding menstruation, proposed by menstrual activists and militants for menstrual dignity, remain outside the debate and public policies, which center their actions on the distribution of sanitary pads. Using methodologies of narrative review and documentary analysis, a survey of public policies for women’s health, bills on menstrual dignity and the activities of social movements regarding menstruation in Brazil was carried out. As a result, the article discusses how public policies on menstruation can benefit from incorporating the demands of the analyzed social movements, with a view to gender equity, the emancipation of girls, women and other people who menstruate and overcoming the menstrual taboo.