The Malaysian activist giving voice to the unspeakable

KUALA LUMPUR - Every time she talks about her work, people often cringe or fob her off.

It is a problem Ms Reena Awliyatul Imani Reezal Merican, 25, faces as a "period activist".

The secretary of non-governmental organisation (NGO) Sanitary Bank Malaysia and full-time chartered accountant has been trying to raise awareness about period poverty in Malaysia.

Period poverty is a global problem affecting women and girls who lack access to safe, hygienic menstrual products and education about menstruation.

Sanitary Bank Malaysia works to provide menstrual supplies to those who cannot afford them.

Ms Reena, who helped set up the NGO in August with several other volunteers, faces numerous uphill battles in trying to get people to acknowledge the problem or even just to talk about it.

"There are good and bad reactions... But for me, whatever reactions I can get, it's good. Because it shows that it's something new to them, but that they are also open to (thinking about) that," she tells The Straits Times.

Period poverty has become a growing societal problem in Malaysia.

According to Ms Reena, more women are using newspapers and other inappropriate materials to deal with their periods as they cannot afford sanitary pads.

Some have even resorted to getting pregnant to avoid having periods for nine months, without thinking about the fact that childbirth and raising a child will incur more costs.

While there is no firm data in Malaysia on how widespread the problem is, a global survey by the NGOs WASH United, the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) and Unicef last year revealed that one in four girls had found it harder to manage their periods since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, and that half of them struggled to get menstrual supplies.

In Malaysia, the problem came under the spotlight during the prolonged lockdowns when the media reported on women who had to use tattered clothes, newspapers, coconut husks, and even banana leaves in place of sanitary pads or tampons because they could not afford them.

Families whose breadwinners lost their jobs had to choose between buying sanitary products or food, The Star reported in March.

Those who could not manage their menstruation properly or hygienically often skipped school or work to avoid embarrassing themselves.

Ms Reena believes that if she persists in raising the issue, she will see some positive change one day.

"Eventually, they will remember it. And eventually, they will come to realise that this is actually a problem."

In the first major step forward, the Finance Ministry announced during the tabling of Malaysia's 2022 Budget in October that free menstrual products would be handed out each month to about 130,000 teenagers from low-income families.

The decision came after Ms Reena presented a proposal to the government urging it to finance the provision of sanitary products to those in need.

"The moment the news came out, the word 'period poverty' lit up social media in Malaysia. It was buzzing on Instagram, on Twitter, on Facebook," she says.

At first, Ms Reena was delighted that the government action had brought the topic - often considered taboo in many societies - to mainstream discussion, helping to raise awareness and rendering the issue acceptable for people to talk about.

Yet, there were naysayers who vehemently denied the existence of the problem.

"There were people who started saying that 'oh, women are just asking for too much' (in requiring free menstrual products)," she recalls.

Some men told her that it was "typical that emotional women will want to fight for this", while some women said even discussing the issue was just "embarrassing".

Undeterred, Ms Reena simply steeled herself and engaged them deeper in conversation.

"Me being me, I will blab on and on about period poverty," she says. "If I get the opportunity to talk about it, why not? And when I do, they are like… 'Isn't this something that girls don't talk about?' And I'm like, 'That's exactly why I'm talking about it'."

Barriers to broaching the topic are not always so easily brought down.

"What disappointed me the most was that there were actually women who insisted that period poverty is not a problem at all," Ms Reena says.

She notes that when people deny the existence of an issue or forbid even the mere mention of it, they may perpetuate ignorance or create more problems.

She cites an anecdote of a friend who had used pieces of cloth to manage her period every month when she was young until she found out about sanitary products.

"She had never known the existence of sanitary pads because her mother could not afford them when she was growing up. That brought me to tears," says Ms Reena.

Sanitary products include disposable sanitary napkins, tampons, reusable menstrual cups and washable "period underwear" that is made with extra absorbent fabric.

Avoiding taboo topics surrounding women's menstruation can also result in severe health consequences that could have been treated early. For example, some women have high levels of the male hormone androgen, resulting in irregular or no periods at all. This could in turn lead to the development of cysts, and may also affect fertility.

"My gynaecologist said this is actually a very common problem among women, but that it's not widely known because it's not being talked about enough," adds Ms Reena.

If the problem is discovered too late, some sufferers may need to have their uterus or ovaries surgically removed.

"These issues are also a part of period poverty - a poverty of knowledge and awareness - as much as people don't think it is," she says.

Ms Reena suggests that the first step towards getting more people to start listening to such "unpleasant" topics is to work towards lifting what they perceive as shame and stigma.

She believes that the government should invest more effort in educating not just women, but also men, on period poverty. "It's not just a women's issue, it's a whole society kind of thing," she tells The Straits Times.

It is sometimes the fathers - the breadwinners - who cannot afford the menstrual products for their daughters to ensure their healthy development, hygiene and ability to attend school, free of worries about their periods, she explains. "If we remain in denial of this societal problem, it's not going to resolve itself on its own."

Ms Reena recounts handing out free sanitary pads at a school in Pahang where the parent-teacher association present at the event comprised mostly men.

"(The men) were like, 'I never knew that this (period poverty) was a problem. But thank you for educating us. We will make sure to take better care of our wives and daughters'," she recalls.

"So, as small as the effort is, it actually does make an impact on how women are treated during their time of the month."