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Menstrual justice is deeply interconnected with water justice, yet these topics remain largely siloed in policy and research—particularly in Canada, where water access is often assumed to be a non-issue. However, existing literature reveals that inadequate water and infrastructure significantly affect menstrual hygiene, dignity, and health, which are key to achieving menstrual justice. While much of the research on menstruation and water is focused on the Global South, the reality of water access, infrastructure, and injustices for menstruators in the Global North, particularly in Canada, remains vastly overlooked. In Canada, unhoused individuals, incarcerated populations, and Indigenous peoples disproportionately experience water insecurity in addition to facing limited or costly access to menstrual supplies. Without access to clean water and hygiene resources, menstruators face heightened risks to their health and safety, while also being denied the ability to manage their monthly cycles with dignity, thus perpetuating gender inequality. Through an examination and analysis of the existing literature, this paper discusses the issues and interconnections of menstrual and water justice, highlighting the historical focus on water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) and menstrual hygiene management (MHM) in the Global South, and the vast oversight of these issues in the Global North. Specifically in Canada, where the issues of menstrual and water injustices are contextualized within broader structures of settler-colonialism, patriarchy, racism, and capitalism, thus illustrating how systemic inequities shape access to water and the experiences of menstruation.

See the full article by Emma Cowman in Sexuality, Gender & Policy (SGP), a journal that focuses on the social, political, and cultural dimensions of sexuality, as well as policy-relevant research on issues related to sexual health, sexual rights, and sexuality education. The journal aims to examine and expand traditional definitions and boundaries within the realm of gender and sexuality, while acknowledging conditions of inequality, marginality, and post-coloniality.