Girls’ right to education: a study of what impact menstruation has on female school participation in Zimbabwe
Educating girls has been argued to be a key contributor to a healthier and more affluent nation.
Educating girls has been argued to be a key contributor to a healthier and more affluent nation.
Improvements in childhood nutrition increase schooling and economic returns in later life in a virtuous cycle. However, better nutrition also leads to an earlier onset of menstruation (menarche).
Impact evaluations focused on school absenteeism commonly use school records of untested quality or expensive spot-check data.
Increasing education for girls is an important policy priority in many developing countries, where secondary school enrollment often remains lower for girls than for boys.
Background. The onset of menstruation is a landmark event in the life of a young woman. Yet the complications and challenges that can accompany such an event have been understudied, specifically in resource-poor settings.
Policy-makers have cited menstruation and lack of sanitary products as barriers to girls' schooling. We evaluate these claims using a randomized evaluation of sanitary products provision to girls in Nepal. We report two findings.