STELLAR TRAINING PODCAST
Menopause in the Workplace: Power instead of Pause
Special Guest: Dr. Radha Paudel
Founder, Global South Coalition for
Dignified Menstruation
MIMI:
Hi, this is Mimi Loudon. Welcome
to the Stellar Training Podcast: Menopause in the Workplace, Power instead of
Pause.
At Stellar Training, we explore
how workplace culture, communication, and awareness can create healthier and
more inclusive environments for everybody.
Today's episode is one I have
been looking forward to for a long time. My guest has dedicated her life to one
of the most universally silenced topics in the world. She is a PhD researcher,
nurse, activist, and the founder of the Global South Coalition for Dignified
Menstruation, a movement she built out of her own lived experience, which
now connects advocates across the globe.
She coined the term Dignified
Menstruation in 2019, and it has since become a framework adopted by
researchers, NGOs, educators, and policymakers worldwide.
Radha, welcome. It is truly an honour to have you with us
today.
"Thank you, dear Mimi. I am
both honored and humbled by your kind invitation."
OPENING MEDITATION
MIMI:
Radha suggested we begin today
with a short meditation, a moment to return to our bodies before we speak about
them. I love that idea.
So if you are listening, whether
you are at your desk, in the car, or out on a walk, I invite you to take a
breath and arrive here.
Radha, the space is yours.
Dear friends, menstruators
and non-menstruators,
Thank you for joining us
and for helping make our world more peaceful, just, and compassionate through
your willingness to listen and learn about dignified menstruation.
Now, let us begin our
meditation.
Please sit comfortably,
wherever you are, in any position that feels relaxed and natural for you.
Take a few slow, deep
breaths. Inhale deeply, and gently exhale. Repeat this a few times.
Now imagine yourself in a
place where you feel safe, comfortable, and happy. It may be your bedroom, a
park, a beach, or any place you love.
As you settle into this
space, I invite you to travel back to your childhood.
I know that recalling early
memories can be challenging, so let me guide you.
Imagine yourself becoming
younger, year by year. If you are 40 years old, for example, begin counting
backward: 39, 38, 37, and so on.
Continue until memories
begin to emerge—your parents, siblings, the way they called your name, your
kitchen, living room, favorite toys, or places where you played.
When you reach your
earliest memory, pause and notice how old you are. Perhaps you are 2, 3, 4, 5,
or 6 years old.
Now, while staying with
that young version of yourself, try to remember your very first encounter with
something related to menstruation.
I am not asking about your
knowledge of menstruation, nor about your first menstrual period.
Instead, recall the first
moment when you became aware of something related to menstruation. Perhaps you
overheard a conversation between your mother and her friends, noticed a
menstrual pad in the bathroom, saw an advertisement on television, or observed
something in a pharmacy or grocery store.
Take a moment to remember
who introduced you to this awareness, whether intentionally or unintentionally.
Can you recall where it
happened? Was it at home, at school, in a shop, on television, or somewhere
else?
Now, remember how you felt
in that moment. Were you curious, surprised, confused, embarrassed, afraid,
happy, or simply wondering what it all meant?
Notice your age, the
person, the place, and the feeling connected to this first memory.
Take a few moments to sit
with these reflections.
When you are ready, gently
rub your palms together until they become warm.
Place your warm hands
softly over your eyes.
Give yourself a moment,
then slowly open your eyes.
Finally, make a note of
what you discovered during this meditation—your age, the person, the place, and
the emotions connected to your earliest memory of menstruation.
Thank you.
INTERVIEW
PART
ONE: MENSTRUATION
1. Who is Dr. Radha Paudel?
MIMI:
Radha, before we get into the work itself, I would love
for our listeners to meet you in your own words. Who are you and what’s the story that brought you here?
Namaste and Gurten Morgan.
At my core, I am simply a human
being.
I am a menstruator.
And before any title,
profession, or role I have ever held, I am a survivor of menstrual
discrimination.
Let me share why.
When I was about seven years
old, my mother told me that menstrual blood was impure, dirty, and a sign of
weakness.
I was shocked.
She also told me that one day,
when I grew older, I would menstruate too.
I deeply traumatized.
I watched my mother isolate
herself during menstruation. She could not participate in cultural and
religious activities. She avoided touching us, touching plants, and even
sharing a bed with my father.
I kept asking myself: Why?
At the same time, I saw many
men, including my father, exercising power over women—at home, in schools, and
in the fields. I witnessed unequal power, exclusion and patriarchy as part of
everyday life.
I felt deeply dehumanized.
I did not want to live as a
menstruator.
I became so distressed that I
left home intending to end my life.
Fortunately, that attempt
failed and that is why I am here speaking with you today.
Five years later, I experienced
my first menstruation.
Once again, I left home this
time for five days because I refused to follow the discriminatory menstrual
practices that my mother and sisters had been forced to follow.
Coincidently, the following
year, I joined nursing college.
There, for the first time, I
learned that menstrual blood is not impure. It is not dirty. It is not a
disease, and it is not a sign of weakness.
That was a life changing moment
for me.
For the first time, I felt
proud to be born as a menstruator.
It was also the beginning of my
lifelong search for what I now call dignified menstruation.
To make a long story short, worked
around women in peace and politics in various capacity but I was not happy at
all because no one acknowledge the menstrual discrimination as an underlying
barrier for building agency or empowerment.
I left behind comfort, career
opportunities, and many personal ambitions to dedicate my life to this cause.
For more than three decades, I
have worked around the clock to advance dignified menstruation—not only to
build agency, pride, and power among menstruators, but also to remind
non-menstruators that every human being is born because of menstruation.
Dignified menstruation is not
only a menstruators' issue. It is a human issue where right to dignity, right
to freedom, right to equality and right to non-discrimination at once as a
composite outcome.
And that is what brought me here today.
MIMI:
You coined the term Dignified Menstruation and
gave it an official definition in 2019. For our listeners encountering this
concept for the first time, what does it mean? And why was a new framework
needed? Why was the existing language around menstrual hygiene not enough?
The concept of Dignified Menstruation is the outcome of my lifelong journey—from pain, resistance, and survival to hope, dignity, and transformation.
It is a decolonial framework
that invites us to examine menstrual perceptions and practices across cultures,
societies, and regions around the world.
More than a concept, it
represents a paradigm shift in how we understand human rights, feminism, public
health, and development.
When we speak of dignified
menstruation, we are not simply using the word "dignity." Dignified
menstruation is the combined realization of the right to dignity, the right to
freedom, the right to equality, and the right to non-discrimination all at the
same time.
This framework emerged from
lived experience in the Global South from my own journey in Nepal.
It challenges dominant
narratives and brings forward perspectives that have long been overlooked in
global discourse.
Most importantly, dignified
menstruation challenges our conventional understanding of unequal power,
patriarchy, and exclusion.
Before the emergence of
religions, philosophies, political systems, or modern institutions,
menstruation already existed as part of human civilization. Alongside it,
menstrual discrimination also emerged and evolved.
Menstrual discrimination is an
umbrella term that includes silence, taboos, stigma, shame, restrictions,
exclusion, abuse, violence, and the denial of resources and services associated
with menstruation throughout the life cycle of menstruators.
It exists in every corner of
the world. It takes thousands of forms, languages, and expressions. It is not
limited to any one religion, culture, level of education, economic status, or
geographic region.
What makes menstrual
discrimination so powerful and so often invisible is that it begins very early
in life.
Through our work over the last
decade, involving more than 15,000 participants from around the world, we found
that many people first learn something about menstruation at around six years
of age.
That first encounter matters.
It is often at that young age that messages about purity and impurity, power and powerlessness, belonging and exclusion begin to take root. Over time, these messages can contribute to the construction and normalization of unequal power relations, patriarchy, and exclusion.
The effects do not stop with
menstruators. They shape the attitudes, behaviors, and relationships of both
menstruators and non-menstruators throughout their lives.
That is why dignified
menstruation is not only about menstrual products or menstrual management of menstrual
health.
It is a human rights-based,
life-cycle approach that recognizes dignity, freedom, equality, and
non-discrimination, throughout the life.
In this framework, dignified
menopause is not a separate issue. It is an essential and inseparable part of
the journey toward dignified menstruation.
Ultimately, dignified
menstruation is not about a bodily function. It is about reimagining humanity
itself where every person can live with dignity, freedom, equality, and non-discrimination.
3. Shame, stigma, and myth: what persists even
in privileged societies
MIMI:
Let us talk about shame, because I think this is where
many European listeners will recognise themselves, even if they assume the
period stigma story belongs somewhere else.
How do you see the shame and stigma that exist here in the global north? And what is the cost of keeping these things invisible even in societies that consider themselves progressive?
·
Strawberry week
·
School management arranged only girls for talk
program with me. …….
·
Second example from UK- ask with her it is
difficult example
Yes, Europe or global north is
not exceptional for menstrual discrimination. There is silence, taboo, stigma,
shyness, restrictions, abuses, denial from resources and services (swimming
pool, sports, bread cooking).
Historically, in global north
has not have discussed on facts on menstruation, menstrual discrimination and
demand for dignified menstruation at all.
Let’s recall our history.
During the mid1800s, the
industrialization evolved in Europe where women started to work outside of the
home as a worker.
And in 1888, a French nurse
invented menstrual pad from wood pulp bandage for managing blood not for
dismantling the menstrual discrimination associated with. She was not bothering
with complexity of the menstrual discrimination.
Before the religion or 4000
years back, 2410 years back or times of Aristotle or Karl Marx (1884), or Simon
de Beauvoir (1986), menstrual discrimination is here in this planet.
Human rights, women rights or
child rights events took place in Europe and Global North in a way and the
other around but menstrual discrimination is not taken in to account at all.
Their do not see their problem within themselves but become savior by
distributing menstrual product at free or imposing the colonized idea through
charity model. They focused on five days for managing menstrual blood.
Global north does not have any
specific scientific study on menstrual discrimination and its impact because it
is still matter of sexist remarks even among the high-profile people (2015
August Trump)
5. The hygiene narrative: what it leaves out
MIMI:
There has been significant international attention on
menstrual hygiene management, providing pads, building toilets, improving
sanitation. That work clearly matters. But your movement argues that hygiene
alone does not touch the root of the problem.
What is missing when we reduce this issue to hygiene? And
what happens when the conversation stops there?
Strengthening or
institutionalizing the menstrual discrimination because hygiene ….
hygiene……indirectly imposing the idea of menstrual blood is impure, and dirty
Demand to manage it privately,
no conversation, no more public issue, political issue
It is about management of
menstrual blood for five days
Missing all aspects of
menstrual discrimination; nature, gravity, complexity and role of menstrual
discrimination in construction of unequal power, patriarchy and exclusion
Often misinterpretation of
menstrual discrimination, ….
It does distribute menstrual
products with out dismantling menstrual discrimination as a charity model,
Making people more dependent,
addictive instead of building their agency, celebrating their stories and
acceptance of their leadership
For instance-do you have any
idea why did I dedicated my life to create space for the dignified
menstruation…….
It doesn’t contribute to
cultivate the culture of equal power between menstruators and non-menstruators,
ignore about patriarchy and exclusion
Honestly, this is colonial
approach that the people from global south do not know, uneducated,
uncivilized, poor people
Ignored and undermine the
indigenous ways of managing menstrual blood
Its is free marketing of
menstrual products and people from global north are savior
6. What can people in relatively privileged contexts actually do?
MIMI:
Many of our listeners live in countries like Austria,
with safe homes, clean water, and products available in every supermarket. It
can be easy to feel that the deeper issues are happening somewhere else.
What do you want people in these contexts to understand?
And what can they actually do, as individuals, as professionals, as citizens,
to contribute to this movement?
Include dignified menstruation
as every day’s conversation wherever you
are……in dining table, in living room, in primary school
7. The thread from menstruation to menopause
MIMI:
My work focuses on menopause in the workplace,
specifically on breaking the silence and stigma that surround it. And as I was
preparing for this conversation, I kept thinking that the shame women feel
about their periods and the shame women feel about menopause come from the same
place.
Do you see that connection? Is the silence around
menopause the same silence, just decades later?
[Follow-up if
needed: In your view, does addressing menstrual shame earlier in life create
better conditions for women to move through menopause with more dignity and
openness?]
To me,
menstrual discrimination encompasses discrimination that occurs before, during,
and after menopause because it affects all stages of a menstruator's life that
are connected to menstruation.
This is
where my perspective differs from much of the current global discourse.
I, and
the Global South Coalition for Dignified Menstruation (GSCDM), do not view
menopause as an isolated issue. We see it as an integral part of a larger life
journey.
As I
mentioned earlier, dignified menstruation is a life-cycle approach. That is why
I also advocate for dignified menopause.
For us,
menopause is not separate from menstruation. It is one important phase within
the continuum of menstrual life.
In 2021,
when we celebrated International Dignified Menstruation Day on 8 December, we
dedicated the entire year to menopause. Our slogan was simple yet powerful:
"Dignified
menopause is a human right, not a privilege."
Since
then, we have organized numerous initiatives in Nepal and across the globe to
advance dignified menstruation, with dignified menopause serving as an
essential and inseparable component of our work.
Through
your podcast, I would like to make a heartfelt appeal to global leaders,
policymakers, researchers, and menopause advocates.
Please
do not work in silos.
If we
focus only on menopause without addressing the lifelong experiences that
precede it, we risk overlooking the root causes of many challenges that people
face later in life.
Instead,
I encourage us to adopt a life-cycle approach.
When we
invest in dignified menstruation from the earliest stages of life—ensuring
dignity, freedom, equality, and non-discrimination—we create the conditions for
a more dignified experience of menopause in the future.
In
simple terms, menstruators who are able to live with dignity, agency, and
respect during their younger years are far more likely to experience menopause
with dignity, confidence, and well-being.
That is
why dignified menopause begins long before menopause itself. It begins with
dignified menstruation.
8. Menopause as a global and cultural experience
MIMI:
In Europe, menopause is often treated as a medical event,
something to be managed, minimised, or pushed through quietly. Hot flashes,
brain fog, mood changes, disrupted sleep, these are symptoms to be handled
privately, not acknowledged publicly.
But menopause is also a cultural experience. How
societies treat this transition says a great deal about how they value women as
they age. Do you see significant differences across cultures in how menopause
is understood or spoken about? And are there places or communities where it is
held with more dignity than we tend to give it here?
[Follow-up if
needed: In some cultures, postmenopausal women gain status and freedom they did
not have before. Is that something you have encountered in your work?]
Yes, of course, there are
cultural differences in how menstruation and menopause are perceived and
practiced around the world. However, cultural differences do not change the
biological and physiological realities of menstruation and menopause.
For me, dignified
menstruation is fundamentally a political and human rights issue.
If governments do not
prioritize dignified menstruation, they will not prioritize the policies,
budgets, services, and systems needed to support menstruators throughout their
lives. Access to occupational therapy, hormone replacement therapy, mental health
support, and other essential services is only possible when there is political
commitment and public investment.
At the same time, people
cope with menstrual and menopausal symptoms in different ways, often shaped by
their communities, cultures, and lived experiences.
When we talk about the
sense of freedom that some people experience after menopause, we must
understand the social context behind that feeling.
Menstruation is not only a
biological experience. It is also a psychological, social, cultural, economic,
and political experience.
In many societies around
the world, menstruation is surrounded by silence, stigma, restrictions, and
discrimination. As a result, some people feel relieved after menopause—not
because menstruation itself was the problem, but because the discrimination associated
with menstruation has finally ended.
To me, that is
heartbreaking.
No one should have to wait
until menopause to experience dignity, freedom, equality, and full
participation in society.
One of the greatest
challenges is that millions of people around the world are never taught that
menstrual blood is natural, healthy, and not a sign of impurity, disease, or
weakness.
Likewise, many people do
not learn that the menstrual cycle is connected to overall health and
well-being. Beyond its role in reproduction, menstrual health is closely linked
to physical, emotional, and social well-being throughout the reproductive years.
It influences many aspects of health, including the brain, bones, heart,
muscles, and overall quality of life.
That is why dignified
menstruation is not simply about managing a biological process.
It is about transforming
how societies understand, value, and respect menstruation and menopause. It is
about ensuring that every person can live with dignity, freedom, equality, and
non-discrimination throughout their entire life course.
9. The shame and silence around
menopause in the workplace
MIMI:
Many women going through
perimenopause and menopause are at the height of their professional lives,
experienced, confident, and enormously capable. And yet they are often suffering in silence at work,
not disclosing what they are going through, not asking for adjustments,
sometimes leaving jobs they love because they feel they cannot manage.
Why do you think that silence is so persistent? And what
do you think organisations are losing when they fail to create space for this
conversation?
[Follow-up if needed: We see a direct line from
telling a girl her period is shameful to telling a woman her menopause is
invisible. What would it take to break that line?]
It’s very ridiculous indeed.
Since the hunting gathering
time, menstruators are treated as weak, inferior, powerless due to the status
of having uterus or menstruation.
As I have already shared, the
deep silence and ignorance created a fear within and course of the human
civilization
Neither any religion nor
philosophers nor any political leader nor corporates or feminist embrace of
menstruation
Menstruation is there either
without touch or silently for profit medicalization and commercialization
UN ILO-1919 -conference- for
worker’s right, improve working condition, promote social justice but for whom?
Where were the menstruators? There was not space for menstruators historically
ILO C 190- violence and
embracement free workplace but where are the menstruators or menstrual
discrimination or dignified menstruation
Educational system- primary
school to Universities
10. What workplaces need to understand about the
full hormonal life cycle
MIMI:
Whether we are talking about a young woman managing her
period at her desk, or a woman in her fifties navigating hot flashes and brain
fog in a meeting, workplaces are generally not built for the reality of female
bodies.
What do you think workplaces need to understand about the
full hormonal life cycle, from first period to post-menopause? And what would a
truly dignified workplace actually look like?
At the macro level, governments
must recognize and adopt Dignified Menstruation as a public policy and human
rights framework.
States have a responsibility to
ensure that people experiencing menstruation and menopause can access the
support, services, and protections they need, including appropriate responses
to menstrual and menopausal symptoms when they are associated with illness,
disability, or reduced well-being.
At the micro level, every
workplace should strive to become a Dignified Menstruation-friendly workplace.
This begins with creating safe
spaces for regular and open conversations about menstruation and menopause,
free from stigma, silence, and discrimination.
More importantly, the
principles of Dignified Menstruation should be integrated into organizational
policies and practices including human resources policies, safeguarding
policies, and financial policies.
This means investing in
education from primary level to Universities, allocating adequate budgets,
providing flexible working arrangements, ensuring access to occupational and
emotional support services, making necessary logistical and accommodation
arrangements, and supporting employees in seeking appropriate care and treatment
when needed.
Ultimately, a Dignified
Menstruation-friendly workplace is not about special treatment. It is about
creating an environment where every person can participate, lead, and thrive
with dignity, equality, and respect throughout all stages of life.
PART
THREE: VISION AND ACTION
11. One change, tomorrow
MIMI:
If you could change one thing, one thing that
governments, workplaces, or educators could do tomorrow to move the needle on
menstrual dignity and menopause awareness, what would it be?
Endorsement of 8th
December as international dignified menstruation day
12. December 8th: International Dignified
Menstruation Day
MIMI:
I want to make sure our listeners know about a date you
have established. December 8th is now International Dignified Menstruation Day.
Can you tell us about that? Why that date, and what do you hope people do to
mark it?
Discrimination related
to menstruation and menopause is a violation of fundamental human rights.
Therefore, 8 December has been chosen as a day to raise global awareness and
promote action toward dignity, equality, and non-discrimination.
Discrimination related
to menstruation and menopause is a form of sexual and gender-based violence.
The date of 8 December was intentionally chosen to align with the global 16
Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, highlighting the urgent need to
address these often-overlooked forms of discrimination.
No existing international observance
comprehensively addresses the complex and interconnected forms of
discrimination associated with menstruation and menopause. Therefore, a
dedicated global day is needed to recognize these issues, amplify affected
voices, and advance dignity, freedom, equality, and human rights for all.
13. Where to find the work
MIMI:
For anyone who wants to learn more, get involved, or
support the Global South Coalition for Dignified Menstruation, where should
they go?
[Note for
recording: mention dignifiedmenstruation.org and invite Radha to highlight any
specific resources, reports, or fellowship opportunities she would like to
share.]
You are welcome to join as a
volunteer, intern, researcher as your wish
You can start a DM at your
country if you agreed
The details
available-www.dignifiedmenstruation.org
PODCAST OUTRO
MIMI:
Radha, thank you. Truly. This
conversation is one I will carry with me for a long time.
What stays with me most is this:
the shame we attach to menstruation does not stay in the bathroom or the
schoolyard. It follows women into the boardroom, into the doctor's office, and
into the years of perimenopause and menopause, when many women finally reach
the height of their experience and confidence and are still expected to stay
quiet about their bodies.
The thread runs through an
entire life. A girl who is told her period is dirty, shameful, something to
hide, grows into a woman who suffers her menopause in silence. And the
workplace, which should be a place of contribution and belonging, too often
reinforces that silence rather than breaking it.
Dignity is not a privilege. It
is not something you earn by living in the right country or earning the right
income. It is a right. And it begins with being able to say, without shame:
this is my body, and it deserves respect.
At Stellar Training, that is
exactly the culture we are working to build, one conversation, one workplace,
one team at a time.
You can find the Global South
Coalition for Dignified Menstruation at dignifiedmenstruation.org and I
will put the link in the show notes.
Thank you for listening to the
Stellar Training Podcast: Menopause in the Workplace, Power instead of Pause.
I am Mimi Loudon, and I look
forward to welcoming you again next time.
Stellar Training | stellartraining.at
