On 21 February Jacqueline Gaybor Tobar succesfully defended her PhD thesis on ' The Body Politics of Menstruation: technologies, sustainability and destigmatization'
In the last few years, menstrual hygiene management (MHM) advocates, scholars and policy makers have positioned menstrual health as a critical concern for development policy, pointing to what they depict as a major hygiene crisis of the Global South which is adversely harming young women’s development.
In her PhD defence Jacqueline Gaybor Tobar successfully moved beyond the enthusiasm of MHM to create technical solutions to an apparent health ‘crisis’ and address more deeply how changes in attitudes to menstruation can be understood.
Jacqueline also created/layed the major narrative in this development effort is for young women to access reusable or disposable menstrual management technologies, and access to sanitation facilities.
She addressed the stigma and how menstruation is not a medical or health issue alone but has important social and ecological impacts.
