General notes on analysing the data

My survey got a response rate of around 5% which isn’t very high, but in plain numbers I was quite pleased to have received 25 responses. I will make a few generalisations based on the data received and caveat results where I think it is needed to reflect the low response rate.

Some participants didn’t realise they only had to fill out one of the main sections, so I have blanked the relevant replies based on their answer to the question ‘Do you menstruate or have menstruated in the past?’. 
I maybe should have made this clearer at the top of each section or used branching which I only discovered after the surveys were launched.

All quotes below are taken from open-ended questions from the survey.

The main areas I was investigating through my survey were:

1) Level of comfort talking about menstruation-related issues in different environments
2) Perception of stigmas and taboos surrounding menstruation
3) Impact menstruation has on study and work environment

1) Level of comfort talking about menstruation-related issues in different environments

Among those who menstruate 65% felt comfortable talking about menstruation in private and 30% replied with some degree of feeling uncomfortable which almost inverted when talking about menstruation at university – with 17% being comfortable and 65% uncomfortable.

Male participants were equally comfortable and uncomfortable in a private environment (both 37.5%) but had a similar drop in comfort levels when talking about menstruation at university where only 13% felt comfortable and 63% uncomfortable.

These numbers show that there is a much lower level of comfort when discussing menstruation at university as opposed to in a private environment. This is not surprising but rather supports the rationale for my project.

2) Perception of stigmas and taboos surrounding menstruation

“People don’t really talk about it a lot, (…) it’s seen as a “girl’s problem” that you just kind of deal with”

72% of participants said that menstruation is a topic with taboos and stigmas attached and 65% of those that menstruate felt fairly or very affected by them.

The free text answers of those who menstruate reflect fear of underperforming and menstruation being seen as a sign of weakness, this is even strengthened when looking at intersectionality between menstruation and race. The language used to talk about menstruation is often derogatory, it is considered dirty, disgusting and shameful. 

Male replies also acknowledge the ‘pejorative’ language and how the topic is ‘quite silent and coded in its cultural expressions’. They also acknowledged that men don’t get enough education about it and often learning about the impact menstruation can have on one’s body and mind comes from living with a partner or housemate.

Even though my response rate was too small to be representative, especially in the older age groups, there seemed to be a slight correlation between age and the level of feeling affected by the stigmas. Younger persons seem to feel less affected by the stigmas than the older generations as can be seen in the table below. Two menstruating participants in the youngest age bracket (18-24) didn’t think there was stigma at all and with increasing age bracket the replies shifted towards feeling very affected by the stigmas and taboos.

3) Impact menstruation has on study and work environment

“(…) I find it a bit hard to work with my screens as my period causes me to have headaches and backaches normally too. I work through this though otherwise, I’d miss out on a whole week of working time. (This has been the main upside of online learning as I wear pyjamas and can just stop working when I want)”

35% of the menstruating participants missed class in the past 12 months because of their period. 11 out of 17 (65%) said that their period usually affects their concentration or performance in a negative way.

All male participant that answered this question thought that menstruation can affect concentration or performance negatively and also thought that persons who menstruate are disadvantaged because of their period symptoms.

A study by gynaecologist Bertho Nieboer among over 32.000 women into the impact of menstruation-related symptoms (MRSs) on productivity at work and during studies (Schoep et al., 2019) found that “the impact of MRSs on work and school productivity is considerable”, reporting that 20% of young women had missed school or university due to period pain and more than 80% of all women said they continued to work or study while feeling unwell.

My response rate was too small to be representative on a larger scale but my data reflects the trend shown in Nieboer’s study. If only 35% say they had missed class but 65% are affected by the symptoms, that means a large number of menstruating participants carried on as normal while feeling the impact of their periods.

(For more details about Nieboer’s study see my blog post Productivity loss due to menstruation-related symptoms / Absenteeism and Presenteeism)

Again the free text field answers gave a lot more detailed insights and I collected the words used to describe the impact of menstruation in the word cloud below.
The problems are recorded to last from 2 days up to 2 weeks.

The impact can roughly be divided into physical and mental effects.
On the physical side what stood out was fatigue and tiredness as well as symptoms of pain and discomfort, especially back pain and cramps. On the side of mental impact there is a lot of nuance and a broad spectrum, ranging from sensitive and trouble concentrating to anxiety and being paranoid.

Other Findings

I identified three other general themes that emerged from the survey:

– Feeling the need to hide that one is menstruating, including any related symptoms

“Having entered the design industry at a time when women were very much in a minority, I always thought it would come across as a sign of weakness. That it would seem that I was not capable, or ‘making excuses’, so I never mentioned it in the workplace.”

– 10 mentions of menstrual products either lacking at university or the call for them to be made available.

“It would be very useful if uni could provide some period pads for emergencies.”

– 18 mentions of the words ‘toilet’,’bathroom’ or other words meaning the toilet facilities at university. (including 4 mentions from male participants)

“I don’t feel comfortable using a sink in a shared space with extremely bloody hands.”

And lastly, this is more of a subjective observation, in some of the answers I thought there was a sense of relief to be able to say how one feels and have the opportunity to voice suppressed frustrations, especially about the toilet facilities.

What does this mean in the context of university?

There is obviously a balance to be had between the need to not miss classes and honouring one’s own body and current state of mind. Every menstruating person needs to find that balance for themselves and we should acknowledge that every period is different. Therefore we cannot judge levels of pain or participation based on either our own experiences with menstruation or our lack thereof.

University needs to create a space where colleagues and students don’t feel the need to hide from their cycles. This is not a conversation that comes up naturally, so a good place to start is to intentionally elevate projects that may be dabbling in a topic that is related to menstruation or female reproductive health. By normalising and highlighting conversations around it hopefully we can alleviate some of the stigma and shame.

Personally I will try to casually mention any period-related symptoms to my friends and colleagues in a context in which I would otherwise disclose, for example, that I have a headache or a hangover from the weekend. Today I have stomach cramps due to my period but I should feel better tomorrow.

Reflections

I really enjoyed creating the survey and using it as a research tool. I had never dealt with that volume of data, so I had to dabble in Excel and find ways of extracting meaning from the text responses.

The data poetry exercise was quite useful for this. I had already started looking for recurring words but the exercise gave me the idea to just copy all the answers into a long text document and process it by reduction in several different rounds.

I was positively overwhelmed by the generosity of the details provided within the open-ended questions. This really helped develop my focus and also clarified areas where I could realistically ‘take action’ within the parameters of this project. They also showed how much need there is for more open conversations especially in a space like a university that wants to encourage and enable discourse.

References

Schoep ME, Adang EMM, Maas JWM, De Wie, B, Aarts, JWM, Nieboer, TE (2019) ‘Productivity loss due to menstruation-related symptoms: a nationwide cross-sectional survey among 32 748 women’, BMJ Open 2019. doi:10.1136/ bmjopen-2018-026186