Tackling menstrual menstrual poverty: a substantive equality approach to the right to Education

The overall purpose of the paper is to analyze the free supply of menstrual items to primary and secondary school girls in New Zealand using the substantive equality principle. The New Zealand government’s incentive for free supply of the articles to menstruating girls was their worrying absenteeism at school due to menstrual poverty. Menstrual poverty limits school girls’ equal access to their fundamental right to education. In my analysis, I adopt a human rights approach, employing the substantive equality principle to reflect on this rationale to provide menstrual products to school girls who need them. My research cites scholarly texts, organizational and media works from multidisciplinary literature to support the free supply of sanitary products. Using this research, I demonstrate that the supply satisfies the multiple interpretations of substantive equality for the attainment of menstruating girls’ equal access to their right to education. The government program addresses menstrual poverty and facilitates the management of menstruation with dignity