Talking about periods is a revolutionary act when women and girls worldwide suffer shame and discrimination

To say women’s bodies are remarkable is an understatement. We can grow a human; that’s incredible. We can be cooking, eating, playing sport, and at the same time growing a lung, or the nervous system, or the reproductive organs of a new life – multitasking on a magnificently creative level.

My body is amazing – it has enabled me to give birth to two wonderful girls. Women’s bodies are amazing! Yet so much to do with them is steeped in shame: from periods to menopause and lots in-between.

We were told not to talk about menopause on TV until recently as it was thought the audience would not want to hear about it. Why is a natural process treated like a dirty secret that women have to deal with behind closed doors?

Women shouldn’t have to hide what they are going through for fear of making others feel uncomfortable. We need to address this sense of shame around women’s bodies and functions. Let’s start by talking about periods.

At any one time, around 300 million people are on their period, yet the subject still makes many people cringe with embarrassment. A WaterAid survey found that one in four people feel awkward talking about periods, and one in eight say it’s embarrassing.

A quarter of people prefer to use euphemisms if they need to talk about monthly cycles rather than refer to it directly. How many times have you heard, or said yourself “it’s the time of the month” (the most popular euphemism, used by 58 per cent of people), or, “women’s problems” (used by nearly a third of people) as a way of avoiding the word period itself? Euphemisms tell us women have something to be ashamed of for having periods.

The fact that people don’t talk openly about periods has a huge impact on women and girls around the world. Astonishingly, one in eight girls in the UK didn’t know about periods until they started menstruating, and in south Asia, that figure goes up to two in three. How scary that must have been for all those girls!

My daughters knew about periods since they were small; I was always open with them about it, just like my mother was with me, making sure I knew they were normal. Periods are natural and powerful, and I want my own daughters to know this and feel nothing but confidence in, and love for, their bodies. Wouldn’t it be amazing if no woman or girl was held back by shame and discrimination?

Without education about how to manage your periods hygienically, women face an increased risk of infection as well as limitations on their everyday lives. The lack of knowledge also means that many believe myths around periods, leading to discrimination and unnecessary restrictions placed on women and girls in different parts of the world. They can be prevented from partaking in everyday activities or eating certain foods, and in extreme cases, menstruating women and girls are even banished from their homes.

One in three girls in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan miss school days every month during their periods because of a lack of decent toilets or access to materials to manage their periods. With 2.3 billion people globally living without proper sanitation, this pattern is repeated across the world, holding girls back from reaching their potential.

This shouldn’t be normal. Yesterday was Menstrual Hygiene Day, and to mark it WaterAid is calling on people everywhere to talk openly about periods, to address the stigma and help women and girls live their lives without limitation, and I’m proud to support the campaign though their new film Peaky Bleeders.

Talking about periods should be as normal as having them. While it may seem a small thing, the ripple effect can be extraordinary. Being more open about periods can help ensure the rights and needs of women and girls are heard and taken seriously at a local and global level.

And it shouldn’t just be a discussion for women. Twice as many parents in the UK are embarrassed to talk about periods to their sons as they are to their daughters, but how can we bring about change if only half of us are calling for it?

So, women, men, young, old: let’s all talk periods, let’s celebrate periods. After all, where would we be without them?