Description
While global climate discourse increasingly acknowledges the gendered impacts of environmental degradation, legal frameworks in developing nations remain trapped in a paradigm of "physical survival," prioritizing food security and basic water access over sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR). This paper examines the systemic failure of Kenya's legal frameworks to protect the girl child from climate-induced menstrual injustice, framing "menstrual neglect" as a critical constitutional blind spot. Positioned squarely under Sub-Theme 2, the study critically evaluates the efficacy of Kenya's legal, statutory, and policy structures specifically contrasting the gender-blind Climate Change Act with the climate-blind Children Act 2022 and health regulations.
Utilizing an ecofeminist legal framework and intersectional analysis, this paper demonstrates how climate-induced shocks including severe droughts, water scarcity, displacement, and damaged school infrastructure exacerbate period poverty, cause physical injury, and force severe educational disruptions. It argues that the State’s omission of climate-resilient Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM) infrastructure constitutes a breach of its positive constitutional obligations under Articles 27 (Equality), 28 (Dignity), 43(1)(a) (Health), and 53 (Best Interests of the Child) of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010.
The paper concludes by proposing transformative legislative reforms, arguing for the explicit integration of MHM into national disaster response statutes, the adoption of gender-responsive climate budgeting, and the judicial recognition of climate-driven menstrual neglect as a justiciable human rights violation.
Keywords: Eco-Justice, Menstrual Neglect, Reproductive Health, Constitutional Rights, Climate Governance, Girl Child.
| Title | Beyond Survival: Menstrual Neglect as a Constitutional Blind Spot in Kenya’s Climate Governance |
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