As part of the MENGA project, the TPO Foundation published a publication entitled “How much does it cost and how much does it hurt?” Social decoding of menstruation at universities in Bosnia and Herzegovina”. The authors of the publication have worked hard on research in the past period, and on 58 pages you can find interesting information about menstrual poverty in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The MENGA (Eng. Menstrual and Gender Action) research is the first research conducted at public universities in BiH with the aim of mapping the perception and attitudes of female students and teachers in BiH about menstruation, the availability of hygienic conditions and menstrual supplies at universities, the financial resources that women set aside for them, stigma, potential exposure to situations implying menstrual poverty, taboos and menstrual superstitions they encounter, and attitudes about reducing and abolishing taxes on these products. The research included an analysis of aspects of shame, menstrual poverty and attitudes towards menstruation in the personal lives of the respondents. It contributes to the discourse on menstruation, menstrual poverty and public budgeting policies that very often ignore the needs of the female population of Bosnia and Herzegovina society.
This research is structured in four chapters: Introduction, Sociocultural Aspects of Menstruation: Encoding and Internalizing Stigma and Shame, Economic Aspects of Menstrual Poverty, and Policy Recommendations. The survey was conducted on a sample of 699 female students and 127 female teachers. The largest number of female students who responded to the survey came from the University of Sarajevo and the University of Tuzla. In the qualitative phase of the research using semi-structured interviews, a total of 42 respondents were interviewed, namely 22 female teachers and 20 female students from public universities in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The publication was issued with the financial support of CPCD, AUS DEV, SIDA, within the MENGA project, and with the financial support of the British Embassy of Sarajevo, within the UNIGEM project.
Click here to download publication.
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