FINAL REPORT

FINAL REPORT
process they organize discussions, and provide information and advice for children. Doctors working
with adolescents mention girls’ hygiene here to highlight specific issues related to them.
Commercial sanitary pads were widely available in all urban and rural shops. However, access to
sanitary pads at school varied. Urban schools sold sanitary pads in the school shop, so urban girls
had no problem accessing them, providing they had the money. At the same time, girls confirmed
that pads in the school shop were more expensive than outside. It should be noted that, in general,
pads in rural areas were slightly more expensive than in urban areas. Most rural schools did not sell
pads within the school compound. If girls needed them, they had to leave the compound and buy
pads in nearby shops, providing they could afford it. If they couldn’t, girls borrowed money from
classmates, including boys, or asked for pads from school doctors, female teachers or anybody else
who could help in an emergency.
Younger girls said that they felt embarrassed about buying pads from male shopkeepers or when
men were in the shop, and sometimes went to another store with a female shopkeeper, or waited
until there were no men present. Older girls said that they did not worry about this so much and felt
free to ask for money to buy pads from even their male classmates
In case of emergencies at school, girls either kept pads with them or asked friends, teachers or
doctors for them. In general, girls tried to keep pads secure and well-hidden so they would not fall
out or be discovered; sometimes boys rifled through girls’ bags looking for extra pens and pencils,
and if they found pads, they would laugh and tease the girls (urban schools report).
“In general girls keep pads in their bags for any emergency. In my experience, 80 per
cent of girls buy them from shops, 5 per cent of them get them from teachers, 10 per
cent from friends, 5 per cent from the school doctor.”(AimagS10_ GirlsIDI)
In the girls’ FGDs, some thought that girls staying in dormitories or with host families might not be
able to obtain sanitary pads because they had no money, as they did not see their parents often.
However, it should be noted that none of the girls explicitly said this was the case. This research
included girls in dormitories in the older girls’ FGDs, but because there weren’t separate questions for
dorm girls and they did not offer this information, it has not been possible to examine the situation
of dorm girls in detail within this report.
Also, although girls in FGDs spoke about the challenges that girls with host families might face,
none identified themselves as living with host families, and therefore it was difficult to explore any
specific challenges.
One mother explained that, because of a lack of water or space to wash bloodstained clothes, some
girls were driven to stealing other girls’ clothes.
“Because the children in dormitories have no napkins and have no money to buy
pads, there have been cases where some of them stole and wore my daughter’s
clothes.” (RuralS9_Mothers FGD)
Girls staying in dorms were usually from herder families, and were unable to go home frequently and
therefore lacked parental support. Participants in the mothers’ FGDs thought some parents might not
be aware that their daughters who were staying in dormitories needed money to buy pads.
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