MENSTRUATION RELATED CHALLENGES 1
Women dealing with social and psychological challenges related to menstruation
Forman Christian College University
Course Code: Psyc 415
Course Title: Research Methods in Psychology II
,MENSTRUATION RELATED CHALLENGES 2
Introduction
This proposed research intends to discover social and psychological challenges that women
face during menstruation.
In Pakistan, for a very long-time women have not been allowed to open-up about
menstruation and keep the matter hidden, not only from men but from other women as well.
Recently, with the uprisings of women empowerment movements, along with highlighting
other societal challenges, they have also decided to finally voice their concerns on having to
hide and bear menstruation related challenges.
Although change is incoming, we are still unaware of the in-depth challenges that women
face. Many of them are still not comfortable opening up to the public and those who already
have don’t necessarily give away all the information. In order to gain insight, I aim to
conduct a research where we can notify ourselves and other people about the country or
culture specific challenges that women face in Lahore.
While studying for social challenges, my goal is to get insight on how family members or
friends react to their menstruation symptoms and how girls adjust their behaviours
accordingly. I wish to understand whether people around them are accepting and how
comfortably they can communicate with family members or friends.
As for psychological challenges, I intend to look more towards the feelings and thoughts of
the girls. This means to assess how they felt and what they thought on different occasions
related to menstruation and how social challenges affect them mentally. It will also include
an assessment of how biological changes and experiences during menstruation affect their
psychological well-bring.
Apart from the identification of challenges I am also interested in how girls deal with the
challenges. This will look for any home remedies or advices that they follow.
, MENSTRUATION RELATED CHALLENGES 3
Other than challenges only, I will look for how aware girls are about menstruation and what
their general views are about menstruation.
For the process of achieving these goals, this proposal begins with providing a conceptual
framework which includes information about the pilot research and the themes obtained from
it. The obtained results are compared to already existing literature to see how close the
findings are. After that I present my research questions for the proposed research; the
complete methodology along with epistemic assumptions and reflexivity. The appendix at the
end includes raw interview notes from the pilot study.
Conceptual framework
Pilot Research
I conducted a pilot interview for my research in order to be aware of how I may improve my
proposed research.
For the interview I selected a childhood friend of mine whom I believed would be
comfortable in sharing her menstruation experiences. I will refer to her as ‘M’ in order to
maintain confidentiality.
M was a 22 years old girl doing her undergraduate from FCCU. She was in her Sophomore
year and was Majoring in Physics. She was born in Lahore and was a Punjabi. She belonged
to a conservative family.
Before interviewing her I thoroughly elaborated upon my research topic. I explained that I
needed to interview her for an hour on two different days. I clarified that interview questions
might ask for personal information and experiences and that she could withdraw at any time
she was uncomfortable. I also asked her if she was okay with me recording the interview and
taking notes. I ensured confidentiality.
Women dealing with social and psychological challenges related to menstruation
Forman Christian College University
Course Code: Psyc 415
Course Title: Research Methods in Psychology II
,MENSTRUATION RELATED CHALLENGES 2
Introduction
This proposed research intends to discover social and psychological challenges that women
face during menstruation.
In Pakistan, for a very long-time women have not been allowed to open-up about
menstruation and keep the matter hidden, not only from men but from other women as well.
Recently, with the uprisings of women empowerment movements, along with highlighting
other societal challenges, they have also decided to finally voice their concerns on having to
hide and bear menstruation related challenges.
Although change is incoming, we are still unaware of the in-depth challenges that women
face. Many of them are still not comfortable opening up to the public and those who already
have don’t necessarily give away all the information. In order to gain insight, I aim to
conduct a research where we can notify ourselves and other people about the country or
culture specific challenges that women face in Lahore.
While studying for social challenges, my goal is to get insight on how family members or
friends react to their menstruation symptoms and how girls adjust their behaviours
accordingly. I wish to understand whether people around them are accepting and how
comfortably they can communicate with family members or friends.
As for psychological challenges, I intend to look more towards the feelings and thoughts of
the girls. This means to assess how they felt and what they thought on different occasions
related to menstruation and how social challenges affect them mentally. It will also include
an assessment of how biological changes and experiences during menstruation affect their
psychological well-bring.
Apart from the identification of challenges I am also interested in how girls deal with the
challenges. This will look for any home remedies or advices that they follow.
, MENSTRUATION RELATED CHALLENGES 3
Other than challenges only, I will look for how aware girls are about menstruation and what
their general views are about menstruation.
For the process of achieving these goals, this proposal begins with providing a conceptual
framework which includes information about the pilot research and the themes obtained from
it. The obtained results are compared to already existing literature to see how close the
findings are. After that I present my research questions for the proposed research; the
complete methodology along with epistemic assumptions and reflexivity. The appendix at the
end includes raw interview notes from the pilot study.
Conceptual framework
Pilot Research
I conducted a pilot interview for my research in order to be aware of how I may improve my
proposed research.
For the interview I selected a childhood friend of mine whom I believed would be
comfortable in sharing her menstruation experiences. I will refer to her as ‘M’ in order to
maintain confidentiality.
M was a 22 years old girl doing her undergraduate from FCCU. She was in her Sophomore
year and was Majoring in Physics. She was born in Lahore and was a Punjabi. She belonged
to a conservative family.
Before interviewing her I thoroughly elaborated upon my research topic. I explained that I
needed to interview her for an hour on two different days. I clarified that interview questions
might ask for personal information and experiences and that she could withdraw at any time
she was uncomfortable. I also asked her if she was okay with me recording the interview and
taking notes. I ensured confidentiality.
