Women are forced to strip naked to show if they are menstruating at the Kenyan cheese factory
Women are forced to undress to show their period at a Kenyan cheese factory after a worker threw a used sanitary napkin in the wrong bin
- A female manager forced the women to undress. She has since been suspended
Women working in a cheese factory in Kenya were forced to strip naked to show if they had their period.
A female manager at Brown’s Food Company rounded up female workers to find out which of them had thrown a used sanitary napkin into the wrong bin, and made them undress after no one confessed.
She has been suspended pending an investigation and three people have been arrested for indecent assault, police in Limuru told local media.
In a statement, Brown’s Food Company said: “As a result of the shocking incident at the company, we have launched internal investigations to assess exactly what happened, why and how to adequately reconcile with the employees affected by this distressing one-sided decision of the manger who were on site on the day of the incident. They were immediately suspended.
A female manager of Brown’s Food Company gathered female workers to find out which of them had thrown a used sanitary towel into the wrong bin
Senator Gloria Orwoba, who advocates for eradicating period shame, said she was told about the incident on an “emergency call” Monday night
Brown’s Food Company (pictured) said its manager was fired immediately after the incident became known
“We are talking directly with Senator Gloria Orwoba – who is known for championing menstrual hygiene and ending period shame and menstrual poverty in Kenya – to learn from her how best to implement a menstrual hygiene policy. We listened and we know we have to do better.’
In a video posted online, Senator Gloria Orwoba said she was informed of the incident during an “emergency call” Monday evening.
She said: ‘[A manager] found a used pad in one of the bins, and from what I understand, that bin was not intended for disposing of pads. [She] had to find out who was having her period so she could punish the person who threw the pad in that bin.”
Police said officers “conducted a thorough investigation and recorded statements from the victims before arresting three suspects,” police said BBC.
They also claimed that similar incidents had occurred before within businesses in the Limuru area.
“We have reliably established that the humiliating and embarrassing vice has been going on for a long time. I want to warn such employers that justice will soon be served for all their victims,” said local police chief Philip Mwania.
Period shaming is an increasingly hot topic in Kenya.
In 2019, a 14-year-old girl took her own life after being humiliated in front of her class for having her period.
Her mother said a teacher called her “dirty” for soiling her uniform and ordered her to leave the classroom in Kabiangek, west of the capital Nairobi.
“She had nothing to use as a pillow. When the blood stained her clothes, she was told to leave the classroom and stand outside,” the mother said in Kenyan media.
She said her daughter came home and told her mother what had happened, but when she went to fetch water, she took her own life.
In February this year, Senator Orwoba was told to leave parliament because she had a bloodstain on her trousers.
She noticed the mark before the session even started, but “since I always advocate against period shame, I thought I should go ahead and put my money where my mouth is,” she said.
Some MPs, including another female senator, complained, saying she was a “disgrace” and disrespectful to others.
Male Senator Enoch Wambua said, “We have wives and daughters, and they go through these cycles, but it’s a matter of being personally managed without exposing it to other people. What Sen Gloria has done to this house is a disgrace, it is a great disgrace to this house.
“This must not happen,” he said, according to the BBC.