Nominated Senator Hints On Free Sanitary Towels Motion
Nominated Senator Gloria Orwoba today gave a notice of a motion on Free Sanitary towels to young Girls and women in the society.
The senator who walked to Parliament environs with a “blood” stained white suit pant, was keen on demonstrating the shameful and unpleasant experience girls and women go through when on their menstrual cycle.
However her ‘blood stained’ trouser attracted mixed reaction from her fellow honourable members causing drama in the House.
Nominated Senator Tabitha Mutinda, who raised the issue on the floor sought directions from Speaker Amason Kingi on the dress code which she termed as inappropriate and indecent.
“As a woman and a Senator, I find it very uncomfortable, very inappropriate, for our colleague Senator Gloria to step in and you don’t understand if she’s on the normal woman cycle or it is faking it, and it is so indecent. It disturbs me, as a woman, on what we indicate out there to our younger generation that looks upon us on how we dress, as leaders, in this House. There is a better way to bring this out.”
Mutinda was seconded by fellows Kitui Senator Enoch Wambua and Narok’s Ledama ole Kina but Senator Gloria was quick to defend herself.
“This is the period stigma that is making our girls kill themselves, we have a girl who killed herself because of the same issue that I’m going through, and now I understand because it is the women who are trying to make this a crime. Because maybe it’s Valentine’s Day? Because maybe on Valentine’s Day we’re not supposed to have our periods? I’m shocked that someone can stand here and say that the House has been disgraced, because a woman has had her period?”
The motion seeks Senator Gloria will bring forth is set to:
- Facilitate provision of feminine hygiene products in all public schools
- Ensure that all schools that don’t have bathrooms that facilitate privacy have one
- Ensure cleanliness or proper disposal of hygiene products are properly equipped
- Create awareness and take advocacy measures on reproductive health issues related to period poverty
- Include in the curriculum a dedicated lesson per week to teach girls on menstrual hygiene
- Ensure that sanitary products will be obtainable timely, consistently, and in a way that respects the dignity of concerned persons
If the motion is discussed, passed and signed into a law, it will help poor school going girls who miss averagely four days of learning every month when having their menses.
“Research by the Ministry of Education found that girls lose on average four school days every month staying home while on their period, which on the bigger scale translates to two weeks of learning each term,” Inua Dada Founder Janet Mbugua noted in 2022.
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