Menstrual Health Education
My research with 16-19 year olds shows that menstrual education in school is not meeting the needs of young people.
Although young people are talking more about menstruation than before, many still experience embarrassment which leads to them struggling to ask for support and, when necessary or desired, to share their menstrual experiences.
As I show in The Menstrual Movement in the Media: Reducing Stigma and Tackling Social Inequalities (2025), girls and other young people who menstruate still have limited knowledge about menstrual health, and this is negatively impacting their health, wellbeing, and experiences of healthcare. Since education in schools is often still limited to biology, can be rushed and/or delivered by a teacher who seems embarrassed, many teenagers rely on social media which can lead to young people absorbing harmful misinformation about menstrual health.
The young people in my research believed that, to reduce menstrual stigma and to ensure that women and others who menstruate are supported effectively, men must be included in education and conversations about menstruation. The young men in my research were unsure how to talk about menstruation in mixed gender groups but expressed enthusiasm for learning about how they could talk about menstruation in a non-stigmatising way and how they could effectively support girls and other young people who menstruate.
Young people of colour from faith groups feel the most excluded and underserved by formal education on menstruation.
Current Menstrual Education Projects:
Period Confident Schools
Faith-Inclusive Menstrual Health Education for Muslim and Sikh communities
Period Confident Schools:
Combining a Menstrual Health Curriculum for pupils aged 8-12 and Irise International's UK Schools Toilet Policy Toolkit
This project is a collaboration with
Irise International and Belszki
(primary teacher, feminist theatre maker and performer)
Please email maria.tomlinson@sheffield.ac.uk or fill in the boxes below to receive a copy of the report about our 2024 pilot of the curriculum in primary settings (years 5-6).
Please get in touch with myself or Irise International if you are interested in using this curriculum or training others how to deliver it.
This project began in 2024 as a collaboration between myself and Belszki. Based on what the teenagers in my research wished they had learned at primary school and Belszki's experience in performance and tackling stigmatised subjects, we created a primary school menstrual health curriculum of 5 lessons for years 5 and 6 (pupils aged 9-11).
Belszki first delivered this curriculum in 2024 and it has received outstanding feedback from pupils and staff (report available on request). These lessons have created a more open and inclusive culture around periods in the school, helped girls to feel more prepared for their periods, to be more confident to discuss periods, and to be better informed about menstrual health. They also learned how to use a wide range of period products (including reusables) and recognise typical/atypical menstrual pain. They also learned about menstrual inequities such as period poverty. It has also improved boys' knowledge about periods and encouraged them to be allies.
Thanks to the amazing impact of the initial pilot of the curriculum in one primary school, we received funding from the University of Sheffield and Flintshire council in 2025 to pilot the curriculum in 12 additional schools across England and Wales. This funding also covered piloting Irise International's Uk Schools Toilet Policy Toolkit in these schools. And so, the Period Confident Schools Programme was born! This programme combines training for teaching on delivering this curriculum and support for staff and pupils to create their own bespoke toilet policies. This pilot is taking place right now (2025-2027).
To find out more about the Period Confident School's Programme, please visit the Irise website.
If you would like to receive the report about the initial pilot, fill in the form below or email me (maria.tomlinson@sheffield.ac.uk) and I will send you the report via email (it may take a few days).
Don't hesitate to get in touch if you do not hear from me within two weeks
Faith-Inclusive
Menstrual Health Education
This project is a collaboration between DiverseCity Development Trust, Cysters and Irise International which seeks to empower Muslim and Sikh communities through community consultations, menstrual health workshops, tailored menstrual health resources, and creating community menstrual health champions. We have hired women from Muslim and Sikh communities to deliver menstrual health education to women in their local areas which includes delivering workshops and then training other women to be menstrual health champions.
After consulting with Muslim communities in Sheffield and Rotherham about what they would like to learn about periods and menstrual health, we have created 4 menstrual health resources on the following topics
1) Period pain management and self-care
2) How to ask for help (e.g. advocating for yourself at the doctors')
3) Menstrual Health and Nutrition
4) Period products
Resources are available in English,
Arabic, French, and Urdu on
Irise International's Website
We have also partnered with the
MeNOW health app, to bring the
resources to women in North Africa
and the Arab World.
