Dimensions of Menstrual Rights for Menstruators: A Systematic Review

 The concept of menstrual rights is usually discussed as a marginalized topic; in addition, the realization of women’s menstrual rights faces ambiguous structures and challenges. This study, therefore, aimed to systematically review the concept and the most important structural dimensions of the menstrual rights of menstruators in order to evaluate the suggestions on different dimensions of menstrual rights and to raise the awareness of health service providers in this regard.

 In this study, all papers and documents addressing this subject and accessible in international databases (i.e., PubMed, Google Scholar, Scopus, and Web of Science) and Iranian ones (i.e., IranMedex and Magiran) were reviewed from September to November 2021. Then 28 papers and documents were selected for final review and analysis.

 The concept of menstrual rights concerned with the ability of women and girls to manage menstrual issues and enjoy a healthy and sanitary period of menstruation. The structure of menstrual rights consisted of menstrual rights in subcultures and religions, components of menstrual rights (e.g., social rights, health rights, educational rights) and menstrual rights in special cases (e.g., natural disasters, disabilities, transgender, etc).

 According to our findings, decisive evidence was found about different dimensions of menstruation rights, which may have provided useful background information for the authorities involved in national and reproductive health, private sectors, charities, and activist groups in this field. These authorities, in turn, may have used the obtained evidence to perform civil acts focused on women and girls’ menstruation and reproductive health.