Designing Dignity: Why Menstrual Health Is a Critical CX Issue
Special Feature On World Menstrual Hygiene Day and Menstrual Health
Despite being a natural biological process, menstruation continues to be surrounded by silence, stigma, and neglect. For millions of girls and women, the experience of having a period is not just uncomfortable—it is systematically unsupported. As we observe World Menstrual Hygiene Day, it’s time to reframe menstruation not just as a health issue, but as a customer experience (CX) failure across schools, workplaces, and public systems.
Prachi Kaushik, Founder & Director of Vyomini Social Enterprise, says it best:
“Menstrual hygiene is not a luxury—it’s a basic human right. Lack of access to sanitary products, clean water, and awareness pushes girls out of classrooms and women out of workplaces.”
This quote points to a deeper issue. When a system fails to support a recurring, predictable human need, it’s a clear signal of broken experience design. Menstrual health is not only about pads and toilets. It is about how a girl or woman feels—physically, emotionally, and socially—during one of the most vulnerable times of the month.
The Emotional Weight of Poor Design
Imagine a schoolgirl in a rural village. Her period starts unexpectedly, but the school has no private toilet, no clean water, and no sanitary supplies. Her options are limited—improvise with unsafe materials, go home early, or skip school entirely. This is not just a public health problem. It’s a systemic user experience breakdown.
Now imagine an office-going woman. There’s no menstrual leave policy, no access to sanitary pads on-site, and no empathy from management. These are moments that define how welcome, supported, and seen someone feels. And these moments shape brand perception, loyalty, and engagement—whether the “brand” is a school, a company, or a government.
Why Menstrual Health Must Be on the CX Radar
Customer experience professionals often map out user journeys in detail—anticipating friction, solving pain points, and building delight. But too often, menstruation is completely absent from these blueprints. That omission creates real consequences. Women are forced to navigate systems not built with their biology in mind.
Good CX means acknowledging every phase of a customer’s life and responding with thoughtful solutions. In the context of menstrual health, that could mean:
- Providing sanitary product access in schools and offices
- Designing clean, safe, and private toilets in public spaces
- Normalizing period conversations in training, communication, and culture
- Creating products that reflect real needs (e.g., for people with disabilities, or in water-scarce regions)
When we design without menstrual realities in mind, we exclude. When we include, we empower.
Brands and Policy Makers Must Co-Create Dignity
Experience is shaped both by systems and by stories. One of the reasons menstrual stigma remains so deep is because we have not normalized talking about it.
As Prachi Kaushik notes:
“We need to break the taboos, educate our communities, and build systems that support menstrual health with dignity.”
Education matters—but so do infrastructure and policy. For example, schools that provide free pads see higher retention among girls. Workplaces with flexible policies and inclusive language build greater trust among employees. Menstrual equity needs to be embedded in design, policy, and culture—not treated as an afterthought or a CSR checkbox.
Brands have a massive role to play. It’s no longer enough to sell period products. The experience that surrounds those products—right from packaging to advertising to customer service—must reflect empathy, inclusion, and dignity. Many brands still use euphemisms or avoid real depictions of blood and pain. That needs to change. Real experiences must be visible, acknowledged, and prioritized.
The Role of Community Experience (CX 2.0)
Today, CX goes beyond transactional touchpoints. We’re now in the era of community experience—where how a person feels in their school, neighborhood, office, or digital space matters more than ever.
Menstrual health is one of the clearest indicators of whether a community is designed with care. Are boys being educated about periods? Are community toilets stocked and maintained? Do cultural attitudes support or shame menstruating people?
Each of these aspects becomes part of a user’s emotional landscape. When systems support them, they feel confident. When systems neglect them, they feel invisible.
Empathy-driven CX doesn’t just create better outcomes. It creates safer, more equitable societies.
Listening as a CX Superpower
One of the simplest and most effective tools in the CX toolkit is listening. And yet, the voices of menstruators are rarely heard in mainstream design conversations. Whether it’s a teenage girl in Bihar, a transgender person in Mumbai, or a working mother in Delhi—their stories contain insight. Their discomfort points reveal opportunities for innovation.
CX teams must begin including menstrual experiences in user interviews, persona design, and journey mapping. This isn’t “extra.” This is essential.
Because when we listen with care, we build with intention.
The Bottom Line: Empowerment Through Experience
“When we empower girls to manage their periods with pride, we’re empowering a generation to thrive,” says Kaushik. This is more than a rallying cry. It’s a blueprint for meaningful, impact-driven CX.
Designing for menstrual dignity is not a “women’s issue.” It’s a human issue. And it is a powerful litmus test for how seriously we take inclusivity, empathy, and equity in our systems.
So today, on World Menstrual Hygiene Day, let’s do more than raise awareness. Let’s rethink the experience. Let’s ask better questions, listen to deeper truths, and build systems that don’t just serve, but uplift.
When we center menstruation in our CX thinking, we don’t just change a product—we transform lives.
