Work, women and the weight of silence: a qualitative analysis reckoning menstrual health and hygiene challenges among female teachers

Abstract

Purpose When women's most common biological experience meets institutional silence, it reveals how menstrual health and hygiene (MHH) is treated even within female-dominated professions such as teaching. Despite growing attention to workplace MHH research, qualitative evidence into how menstruation is institutionally managed in educational settings remains limited. This study addresses this gap by examining how menstruation is positioned within schools, focusing on millennial female teachers of Jammu and Kashmir, India. Design/methodology/approach The study employs a qualitative design using semi-structured interviews with 32 millennial female higher-secondary school teachers (both government and private). Thematic analysis followed Braun and Clarke's (2006) six-phase framework, guided by an integrated analytical approach to capture behavioural, institutional and socio-cultural influences on MHH. Findings The findings reveal that menstrual experiences in schools are shaped by the convergence of professional expectations, perceived health considerations, organizational routines and gendered norms, rather than by individual or infrastructural constraints alone. Expectations of uninterrupted performance and bodily self-regulation render menstruation institutionally peripheral, despite its routine physiological nature, reinforcing silence and coping practices within schools. Research limitations/implications The study advances theoretically by advancing workplace MHH scholarship in two key ways. First, it responds directly to a persistent gap identified in the existing literature, the limited sector-specific theorization of menstruation within work environments and the absence of frameworks that account for behavioural, institutional and gendered mechanisms simultaneously. Second, the study advances workplace MHH and gender-inclusive organizational literature by showing that these mechanisms reinforce within the everyday functioning of a female-majority profession. Practical implications The findings offer practical insights for school management and policymakers to develop gender-responsive institutional practices and carry broader social relevance by challenging the normalization of menstrual silence within educational environments. Social implications Socially, the findings underscore the role of schools in either reproducing or challenging menstrual stigma beyond the workplace. Originality/value This is among the first to examine MHH in the education sector, offering a sector-specific and institutionally grounded contribution to workplace MHH research, positioning menstruation as a relevant organizational and equity issue in schools rather than a private matter of individual management.