One never forgets the first time it happens. The ensuing confusion, silence, muttering, and chaos to hide its evidence ensures that the mental scar is permanent. For many young women in Pakistan, menstruation begins not with guidance, but with fear. In countless households, mothers don’t explain what periods are; daughters only find out when it suddenly happens to them. What is perceived to be a biological shift is so much more: a terrifying, lonely moment, cloaked in shame. It arrives with whispers, with hurried steps, with eyes lowered in embarrassment. You are told not to speak of it. At the pharmacy, pads are handed over in black plastic bags, as if your body has committed a sin.  

Bushra Mahnoor knows this all too well. For her, this silence wasn’t just personal. It became the beginning of a lifelong battle. Raised in a society where menstruation was rarely discussed, she saw how silence shaped the confidence, education, and even self-worth of young girls. Today, as an Erasmus scholar in crisis response and social inclusion, she is helping reshape the global conversation around menstrual justice. Her mission is to ensure that no girl feels as unprepared, isolated, or ashamed as she once did.  

That moment shaped her in a way she had not anticipated back then. Bushra grew up in Attock, a small city tucked away in northern Punjab, alongside her five sisters. Menstruation was not just a private experience; it was a shared struggle. Sharing supplies, managing limited resources, and quietly battling the humiliation associated with periods became part of her daily routine. She quietly fought with it, just like many others around her. 

Bushra remembered how her peers would be embarrassed in public if they damaged their white school uniforms. “They were ridiculed for something beyond their control,” she recalled. However, what began as a form of personal anguish snowballed into something far bigger. During the 2022 floods in Pakistan, Bushra could not stop worrying about the menstruating women in flood-affected areas. “Periods don’t stop during disasters,” she said firmly. “I kept thinking, how are young girls, especially those experiencing their first period, coping in those moments without shelter or support?” 

This question sparked Mahwari Justice (Menstruation Justice), a grassroots effort that started as an X (formerly Twitter) account and developed into a national movement for menstrual dignity. It began as a modest awareness effort and quickly evolved into urgent action. Bushra and her team organized online fundraisers, collecting money through platforms such as GoFundMe and local bank transfers. Using these donations, they delivered period relief kits to flood-affected areas, reaching around 150,000 girls and women in Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, South Punjab, and Balochistan in just a few months. But it wasn’t just about giving out pads. Bushra ensured that dignity remained important to their approach. The packages contained not just sanitary items, but other essentials too, with all items thoughtfully put together to reflect care and empathy. 

Still, Bushra knew this issue wasn’t just about disaster relief. “We need to change the way society talks about menstruation,” she said. That’s why choosing the name Mahwari Justice was a bold move in itself because change often begins with calling things by their name. “In our society, people are uncomfortable even saying the word menstruation,” she explained. “Instead, they use harmful words like napak (impure) or say, ‘I’m not well.’ But if we can’t even name it, how will we ever talk about it openly?” 

Bushra’s activism is not restricted to emergencies. Her initiative currently includes school programs that teach adolescent girls on period health and climate-related menstrual hazards. She also advocates for legislation that promotes menstrual health, such as eliminating the luxury tax on period products and assuring free supplies in schools and workplaces. However, making long-term changes has not been straightforward. “Relying on donations isn’t sustainable forever,” she admitted. “Now, we focus more on teaching people to manage their periods safely using resources they already have, while also pushing for long-term policy shifts.” 

“I’ve seen how people from places like ours are treated as data points,” she said. “That’s why I ground my activism in empathy, not just stats.” Still, navigating these spaces as a Pakistani woman hasn’t been easy. “Even back home, young women like me often get a symbolic seat at the table, but we aren’t heard,” she shared. “You have to fight to have your voice heard.”  

Despite the obstacles, Bushra is committed to her ultimate goal: a society in which menstruation is not humiliated or suppressed. Her dream? To develop a comprehensive menstrual health curriculum that would become part of Pakistan’s formal educational system. She also intends to enhance Mahwari Justice’s knowledge base by creating accessible resources in Braille, sign language, and simple visuals.  

“The future is in education,” she said with conviction.  

“I want to help build a society where simply having a period doesn’t bring shame.” She added, “Activism isn’t just about changing others; it’s about creating the world your younger self deserved but never had.”