International Women’s Day, 8 March 2026, A #GlobalCall: “𝗗𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗲𝗱 𝗠𝗲𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: 𝗣𝗼𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗘𝗻𝗴𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗞𝗶𝘁𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁”

“Dignified Menstruation: Political Engagement from Kitchen to Parliament”

International Women’s Day, 2026

A Global Call

This 8th March, the Global South Coalition for Dignified Menstruation (GSCDM) calls on everyone to mark International Women’s Day 2026 with the transformative theme:

“Dignified Menstruation: Political Engagement from Kitchen to Parliament.”

Menstruation is an inevitable process experienced by more than half of the population of the world. Yet, it continues to be surrounded by visible and invisible forms of menstrual discrimination. Menstrual discrimination refers to all silence, taboos, shame, stigma, restrictions, abuse, violence, and deprivation from resources and services that are associated with menstruation throughout the life cycle of menstruators in all diversity. It is a form of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) and a violation of human rights. It occurs across the globe with different names, forms, and degrees. It is complex and multifaceted. It plays a vital role in the construction and shapes the power and patriarchy (GSCDM, 2019).

Menstrual discrimination is deeply embedded in patriarchal systems that shape unequal power relations, patriarchy andexclusion in both private and public spheres. It operates at both systemic and symptomatic levels, affecting the human rights of menstruators.

At a systemic level, menstruators are socially assigned to domestic and care roles, particularly within the kitchen, where their labour is largely unpaid, informal, and invisible. Their contribution in domestic and care giver role never valued in-terms of money. This reinforces gendered divisions of labour and limits menstruators’ economic independence, leadership opportunities, and participation in private as well as public life.

At the same time, menstrual discrimination produces symptomatic practices that reinforce unequal power relations. The theme “Dignified Menstruation: Political Engagement from kitchen to parliament” highlights the urgency of Dignified Menstruation as both a personal and political issue. Menstruators are restricted from entering kitchens or preparing food during menstruation. There is a restriction in mobility, participation, and food during menstruation, considering menstrual blood is impure and dirty blood. As a result, menstruators are both confined to the kitchen as their expected role and excluded from it during menstruation, a contradiction that reveals the deeper structures of patriarchal norms. These practices often begin in the kitchen and home.

However, the responsibility/discussion does not stop within families or communities. These realities have broader implications for political rights and participation. When menstruators’ mobility, agency, and bodily autonomy are constrained in everyday spaces such as the home, their ability to negotiate, make decisions, and participate meaningfully in social and political processes is also compromised.

Therefore, Dignified Menstruation requires transforming these systems: recognizing and valuing unpaid domestic labour, promoting shared household responsibilities, including the engagement of non-menstruators in domestic work, and ensuring that menstruators are neither confined to nor excluded from spaces because of stigma.

International Women’s Day is often a moment to recognize women’s work. Yet the labour perfParliamentormed in kitchens and households remains largely uncounted and undervalued. Addressing menstrual discrimination, therefore, means confronting both the systemic structures and everyday practices that undermine menstruators’ rights. It also calls for shared responsibility within and beyond households, promoting equitable engagement, from the kitchen to decision-making spaces such as parliament, which is essential to challenging patriarchal norms, redistributing power, and advancing dignity, equality, and justice for all menstruators.

This 8th of March, GSCDM calls for a shift in narrative, from silence and stigma to rights, dignity, and political engagement, recognizing that advancing dignified menstruation, from the kitchen to parliament, is essential to achieving gender equality and social justice.