In Türkiye, menstrual justice is still treated more as relief than as a matter of public responsibility. Urgent needs such as product shortages or missed school days are easier to recognise, but structural change remains harder to achieve. This reflects a wider climate where gender equality is politically contested, especially after Türkiye’s withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention, making it difficult to sustain women’s rights language in public debate.
Menstrual poverty is often framed narrowly—through hygiene, education, or crisis response—rather than as part of a broader struggle for gender justice. Access to products alone does not address stigma, silence, untreated pain, or the lack of recognition of menstruation as a public issue. Researchers and activists argue that menstrual justice must be understood through reproductive justice, feminist health, and human rights, yet civil society efforts remain under-recognised in policy and philanthropy.
Philanthropy plays a crucial role in bridging this gap. While immediate relief and education initiatives are important, lasting change requires support for slower, less visible work such as research, advocacy, coalition-building, and public communication. Without this, strong local initiatives risk remaining fragmented and temporary, unable to build national recognition or policy momentum.
The tendency to fund menstrual health mainly in disaster zones or vulnerable communities reinforces the perception that it is an exceptional issue, rather than one affecting people across the country. This limits the ability of civil society organisations to connect local evidence to broader advocacy and structural change.
Civil society makes visible what the state neglects, while philanthropy can resource these neglected spaces. But neither can replace public responsibility indefinitely. The challenge is to ensure that support moves beyond temporary relief and helps transform visibility into accountability. Menstrual justice should be recognised not only as hygiene, education, or emergency need, but as part of a wider equality agenda that demands a responsive and accountable public sphere.
