IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pgph00/0000589.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Menstrual health challenges in the workplace and consequences for women’s work and wellbeing: A cross-sectional survey in Mukono, Uganda

Author

Listed:
  • Julie Hennegan
  • Justine N Bukenya
  • Fredrick E Makumbi
  • Petranilla Nakamya
  • Natalie G Exum
  • Kellogg J Schwab
  • Simon P S Kibira

Abstract

This study describes women’s menstrual health needs at work in Uganda and explores the associations between unmet needs and women’s work and wellbeing. We undertook a cross-sectional survey of women working in marketplaces, public primary schools, and health care facilities in Mukono district, central Uganda. Survey questions were designed to capture women’s experiences of managing menstrual bleeding, pain, social support, and the social environment. A total 435 women working in markets, 45 teachers and 45 health care facility workers participated. Of these, 15% missed work due to their last period, and 41% would prefer not to work during menstruation. Unmet menstrual health needs were associated with consequences for women’s work and psychological wellbeing. Experiencing menstrual pain (aPR 3.65 95%CI 1.48–9.00), along with the use of improvised menstrual materials (aPR 1.41 95%CI 1.08–1.83), not feeling comfortable to discuss menstruation at work (aPR 1.54 95%CI 1.01–2.34) and the expectation that women should stay home when menstruating (aPR 2.44 95%CI 1.30–4.60) were associated with absenteeism due to menstruation. In contrast, not having menstrual management needs met (aPR 1.45 95%CI 1.17–1.79) and the attitude that menstruating women are dirty (aPR 1.94 95%CI 1.50–2.51), along with pain (aPR 1.59 95%CI 1.12–2.24) and norms around absenteeism were associated with wanting to miss work. After adjustment for age and poverty, unmet menstrual management needs (b = -5.97, 95%CI -8.89, -2.97), pain (b = -3.89, 95%CI -7.71, -0.08) and poor social support (b = -5.40, 95%CI -9.22, -1.57) were associated with lower wellbeing measured using the WHO-5. Attitudes that menstruation should be kept secret (b = 4.48, 95%CI 0.79, 8.17) and is dirty (b = 4.59, 95%CI 0.79, 8.40) were associated with higher wellbeing. Findings suggest that supporting care for menstrual pain, addressing secrecy surrounding menstruation and the perception of menstruation as dirty, and improving access to materials and facilities for managing menstrual bleeding are avenues for programs and policies to support working women.

Suggested Citation

  • Julie Hennegan & Justine N Bukenya & Fredrick E Makumbi & Petranilla Nakamya & Natalie G Exum & Kellogg J Schwab & Simon P S Kibira, 2022. "Menstrual health challenges in the workplace and consequences for women’s work and wellbeing: A cross-sectional survey in Mukono, Uganda," PLOS Global Public Health, Public Library of Science, vol. 2(7), pages 1-19, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pgph00:0000589
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgph.0000589
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/globalpublichealth/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgph.0000589
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/globalpublichealth/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pgph.0000589&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pgph.0000589?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. repec:plo:pmed00:1002803 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Salmon Mugoda & Stephen Esaku & Rose Kibuka Nakimu & Edward Bbaale & Robert Read, 2020. "The portrait of Uganda’s informal sector: What main obstacles do the sector face?," Cogent Economics & Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(1), pages 1843255-184, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Stephen Esaku, 2022. "Institutionalized democracy and the shadow economy in the short- and long-run: empirical analysis from Uganda," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-12, December.
    2. Nahmadova, Firuza, 2021. "Does informal employment improve livelihood in the long-term in Azerbaijan?," MPRA Paper 111039, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. YunQian Zhang, 2023. "Impact of green finance and environmental protection on green economic recovery in South Asian economies: mediating role of FinTech," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 56(3), pages 2069-2086, June.
    4. Asgari, Heshmatolah & Moridian, Ali, 2023. "Investigating the Role of Human Capital and Shadow Economy in the Impact of Natural Resource Rent on Income Inequality with Regime Change (in Persian)," The Journal of Planning and Budgeting (٠صلنامه برنامه ریزی و بودجه), Institute for Management and Planning studies, vol. 28(4), pages 75-110, December.
    5. Aamir Aijaz Syed & Farhan Ahmed & Muhammad Abdul Kamal & Juan E. Trinidad Segovia, 2021. "Assessing the Role of Digital Finance on Shadow Economy and Financial Instability: An Empirical Analysis of Selected South Asian Countries," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 9(23), pages 1-15, November.
    6. Rahman, Sami Ur & Faisal, Faisal & Ali, Adnan & Sulimany, Hamid Ghazi H & Bazhair, Ayman Hassan, 2023. "Do financial technology and financial development lessen shadow economy? Evidence from BRICST economies using heterogenous bootstrap panel causality," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 201-210.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pgph00:0000589. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: globalpubhealth (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/globalpublichealth .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.