--- title: How does water scarcity affect women's mental health and dignity during menstruation? description: Water scarcity forces women to struggle with managing menstruation with dignity, which creates stress, frustration, and anger that harms their mental health. url: https://niyora.com/research/papers/managing-menstruation-with-dignity-worries-stress-and-mental-health-in-two-water-2023/ --- - [Niyora](https://niyora.com/) - [Research](https://niyora.com/research/) - [Library](https://niyora.com/research/library/) - How does water scarcity affect women's mental health and dignity during menstruation? Interview study, 2023 # How does water scarcity affect women's mental health and dignity during menstruation? Water scarcity forces women to struggle with managing menstruation with dignity, which creates stress, frustration, and anger that harms their mental health. Women felt humiliated when they could not stay clean during their period. Early or limited evidence 20 women of childbearing age in two water-scarce communities in New Delhi, India ## What they did Researchers conducted detailed one-on-one interviews with 20 women of childbearing age living in two water-scarce communities in New Delhi, India in 2021. They asked about the challenges of managing menstruation with limited water and how this affected their mental health and sense of dignity. ## What they found Women described difficulty managing menstruation with dignity due to lack of water. They reported stress, frustration, and anger about not being able to stay clean. Many felt humiliated and ashamed. These negative emotions were connected to worse mental health overall. Women felt trapped because they were expected to manage household water while dealing with their own menstrual needs. ## What it means for you Water scarcity creates a serious challenge to women's sense of dignity during menstruation and harms their mental health. This was a small study based on women's descriptions of their experiences. It does not measure how many women felt each emotion or how severe the mental health impact is. 20 women interviewed 2 water-scarce communities ## About the study Original title Managing menstruation with dignity: Worries, stress and mental health in two water-scarce urban communities in India Authors Choudhary N, SturtzSreetharan C, Trainer S et al. Journal Global public health Year 2023 Study design Interview study Open access Yes Read the paper [doi.org/10.1080/17441692.2023.2233996](https://doi.org/10.1080/17441692.2023.2233996) Original abstract An emerging body of literature examines multiple connections between water insecurity and mental health, with particular focus on women's vulnerabilities. Women can display greatly elevated emotional distress with increased household water insecurity, because it's them who are primarily responsible for managing household water and uniquely interact with wider water environments. Here we test an extension of this proposition, identifying how notions of dignity and other gendered norms related to managing menstruation might complicate and amplify this vulnerability. Our analysis is based on systematic coding for themes in detailed semi-structured interviews conducted with twenty reproductive-age women living in two water insecure communities in New Delhi, India in 2021. The following themes, emerging from our analysis, unfold the pathways through which women's dignity and mental health is implicated by inadequate water: ideals of womanhood and cleanliness; personal dignity during menstruation; hierarchy of needs and menstruation management amidst water scarcity; loss of dignity and the humiliation; expressed stress, frustration and anger. These pathways are amplified by women's expected roles as household water managers. This creates a confluence of gendered negative emotions - frustration and anger - which in turn helps to explain the connection of living with water insecurity to women's relatively worse mental health. Reproduced under CC-BY. ## Topics [Irritability and anger](https://niyora.com/research/topics/symptom-irritability-anger/)[Stress](https://niyora.com/research/topics/symptom-stress/) Research tells you what helps on average. Niyora helps on the day it hits. Calm down, see it another way, and decide what to say, with a PMS and PMDD app built by a doctor. ## Related studies Cohort study, 2025 How common is PMS in Chinese teenage girls, and what factors are linked to it? Review, 2003 How do menstrual cycle hormones affect the brain and cause mood disorders like PMDD? Survey study, 2026 Is PMS worse in medical students with higher stress? 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