About This Project

It is estimated that up to 23% of schoolgirls miss school during their menstrual periods in Sierra Leone. In Phase 1 of our field research we found that lack of access to adequate menstrual hygiene resources is one of the main reasons for missing school. Baseline data collection is currently underway. We are ready to start Phase 2 of the study which will focus on evaluating the effects of providing reusable pads on educational and subjective outcomes.

Ask the Scientists

What is the context of this research?

In Sierra Leone, 20% of girls miss school because of menstruation and in Nepal and Afghanistan, 30% of girls miss school for the same reason (Sommer et al, 2012). In a study of 595 students in Ethiopia, 43% of surveyed students reported missing school during menstruation. Among that population, 39% reported they felt shame and were afraid of being teased by other students if they discovered they were menstruating (Tegagne and Sisay, 2014).

The returns of female education are high. An educated female has better opportunities in the labor market and are important catalysts for overall economic development (Duflo, 2012). Thus, missing school has severe negative consequences for girls outcomes.

What is the significance of this project?

The economic research on this topic is rather scarce, often with contradicting results. A 2009 study in Ghana provided menstrual pads to students for six months and found that attendance increased significantly: almost by 13% in rural areas and 98.4% of the girls reported that they were able to concentrate better in school (Scott et al, 2009). On the contrary, Oster and Thornton's (2011) study in urban Nepal reported little or no positive effect in support of the idea that menstrual product interventions might lead to increased school attendance. A project of this sort hasn't been done before. Baseline data from the field told us that girls miss school when they are menstruating. It also showed us that this sort of intervention is welcomed in this context.

What are the goals of the project?

The purpose of this study is to understand factors that affect female development outcomes, especially in the realm of sanitation and hygiene. Our hypothesis is that providing menstrual products to students will have a significant impact on school attainment, measured though self reported answers and school records. We will also be conducting economic experiments to measure changes in girls' self esteem, aspirations, confidence, and competitiveness. We will conduct a lab in the field experiment by randomly providing reusable menstrual pads to a group of 400 female students aged 13 - 20. To rigorously asses the causal impact of the intervention, a second group of 400 randomly selected girls will serve as our counterfactual.