MS tables bill ammendment on menstrual wellbeing

REGIONAL MS Suzy Davies has tabled an amendment to a Welsh Government bill which would make the subject of menstrual wellbeing a compulsory part of the new schools curriculum.

Ms Davies spoke very openly at the Senedd about her own experience of endometriosis which affects one woman in ten and which can make their lives a misery with constant pain and other symptoms.

She asked for both boys and girls to be taught about menstrual well-being as part of relationships and sexuality education, itself a mandatory element of the Curriculum and Assessment (Wales) Bill which is being finalised shortly.

An earlier attempt to get it included was voted down by the majority Labour members at the Children, Young People and Education Committee which is scrutinising this bill.

Ms Davies, a Welsh Conservative Regional Member for South Wales

West, said that she will bring her amendment back at the next stage of this bill.

She added: “Endometriosis takes an average of eight years and 23 visits to a GP before being diagnosed. It is crucial that girls and their families recognise a normal period. Too many assume that they are just unlucky and have bad periods.

“The symptoms of endometriosis can be bad enough to wreck lives so suffering in silence has to stop. They need to know that it’s not normal and they can do something about it.”

Ms Davies revealed that she had been diagnosed with Stage 4 Endometriosis after years of thinking that what happened to her each month was “because of her age.”

She said: “Women want to be well. One in ten of us push through this month after month feeling like hell, meeting social expectations because talking about this wrecking ball is just too embarrassing. Endometriosis is not a

Cinderella disease – it is a real ugly sister of a disease that we must raise awareness about.”

The move to get young people taught about this is part of a wider campaign to raise awareness among health professionals so that referral times to specialists are reduced and the campaign also calls for more research into the causes and cures for this condition plus the training of more specialists within the Welsh NHS to improve access to support for women.