There was drama in
parliament on the 14th of February this year, when nominated senator
Gloria Orwoba was asked to leave the chambers due to her “inappropriate dressing”.
The incident has sincespiraledd out of control and sparked a lot of debate. Senator
Gloria appeared to have stained her white trouser as she drove to parliament. A
UDA-nominated senator, Tabitha Mutinda sought attention from the speaker Amason
Kingi about Gloria Orwoba's dressing code.
Senator Tabitha
said that the house had been disgraced and it was very inappropriate of senator
Gloria to come to chambers with her clothes stained. This resulted in an
exchange between the two senators and others were quick to join the rebuttal
and ask that she be sent to change. Gloria expressed her disappointment in Tabitha
for having been the first one to give a pint of order about her dressing.
Gloria felt that instead of shaming her for a natural occurrence, her colleagues
should have just been kind to know if she was okay or maybe needed painkillers.
Several members of
parliament criticised senator Gloria ,claiming that it was so shameful for a
woman to walk around exposing her personal business. They also said that it was
a taboo. Enoch Wambua, the senator of Kilifi county stood up and confidentially
said,
“Women go through
the menses cycle and they manage it privately, it just a matter to be managed
personally without exposing it to people.
In her defense, Orwoba said
“I have stained my clothes and at the end of
the day I just want to know while we are discussing this issue that is not in
the order paper, is it because senators are not women who have periods? “
She went further
and described that it was a serious issue, a part of the period stigma which
led to some girls dying by suicide adding that it is the women who are trying
to make it a crime. She then concluded by saying
“I am shocked that
someone can stand here and say that the house has been disgraced because a
woman has had her periods.”
This conversation
about period stigma and period poverty comes a few decades late. It is sad that
it took such drastic measures as a senator coming in with her clothes stained
that the issue if finally in parliament. Girls live in horror of their next
menstrual cycle. In some regions in Kenya especially the rural areas, girls
still struggle to afford or even access sanitary pads. The current price of one
packet of sanitary pads is 80 shillings. For a parent who is a casual laborer,
that is too much to part with in a day. Imagine a parent with four girls and
each needs two packets.
The subject of
menses is still taboo in many communities. Many girls begin their periods
without ever having a clear candid conversation about how to use sanitary
products. They have no idea how to deal with the changes happening in their bodies.
For some girls, menstrual cramps can be severe and affect their day-to-day productivity.
The ordeal of
Gloria in Parliament on Valentine’s Day is reason enough to have this conversation
about our girls. It is time to acknowledge that menstruation happens and not everyone
is lucky to afford the products they need even though they should. The next
course of action is to develop policies that will ensure that girls feel safe every
month. They should be confident that even on their periods, they do have to miss
school because they do not have pads. They should not be worried about what
their teachers and peers think when it comes to their periods.
Tax-free pads and menstrual
products would be a great point to start. After that, they should be as free as
government-issued condoms. They are just as necessary.
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