Impact of Menstrual Hygiene Management on Labour Market Outcomes

Last registered on March 23, 2026
View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Impact of Menstrual Hygiene Management on Labour Market Outcomes
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0017911
Initial registration date
March 21, 2026

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
March 23, 2026, 8:02 AM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

There is information in this trial unavailable to the public. Use the button below to request access.

Request Information

Primary Investigator

Name
Megha Sanghavi
Affiliation
Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Rudra Sensarma
PI Affiliation
Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode
Contact Investigator
PI Name
Chitwan Lalji
PI Affiliation
Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode
Contact Investigator
PI Name
Siddhartha Bandyopadhyay
PI Affiliation
University of Birmingham
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2025-09-13
End date
2029-03-31
Keywords
Health, Labor
Additional Keywords
Menstrual Health Management, Labour Market Outcomes, Randomised Control Trial
JEL code(s)
I25, J24, J31, C93
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
Out of the 4 billion women across the globe, each day approximately 800 million women are menstruating. Insufficient access to menstrual hygiene management facilities affects about 500 million women worldwide. During menstruation, this lack of hygienic facilities can cause several interruptions such as missing school or work and non-participation in social activities among various others. Thereby, menstrual hygiene management has significant effects on women’s economic activities. However, there is a paucity of rigorous evidence on the link between menstrual hygiene and women’s economic outcomes. We study the effects of menstrual hygiene management on health and labour market outcomes. By improving women's menstrual hygiene management practices through various interventions, it may be possible to enhance women’s productivity and health, ultimately contributing to an increase in labour market participation of women.

The objectives of the study are to understand how menstrual hygiene management affects the labour market outcomes of women. In developing nations such as India, women’s work absenteeism may be due to a lack of information on menstrual hygiene and inefficient products among other reasons. By identifying the causal effects of menstrual hygiene management, it may be possible to introduce policies that could help reduce work absenteeism and improve the economic outcomes of women and consequently the economy’s aggregate output.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Bandyopadhyay, Siddhartha et al. 2026. "Impact of Menstrual Hygiene Management on Labour Market Outcomes." AEA RCT Registry. March 23. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.17911-1.0
Sponsors & Partners

There is information in this trial unavailable to the public. Use the button below to request access.

Request Information
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
We plan to randomly assign villages from rural areas of Vadodara district, Gujarat into three groups (two treatment arms and one control group). We shall conduct menstrual hygiene awareness drives among women in both the treatment arms. In order to understand the additional benefits (if any) of menstrual hygiene products, we plan to also provide reusable menstrual hygiene product to women, along with menstrual hygiene management practices in one of the treatment groups.
Intervention Start Date
2026-04-01
Intervention End Date
2026-08-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Health and labour market outcomes
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
We include measurable health indicators, work days, earnings and similar labour market outcomes.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Psychological well-being at workplace
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)
We plan to ask women questions about their psychological wellbeing including their comfort and emotions at workplace.

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We are conducting a field experiment in the form of a Randomised Control Trial (RCT) to study the impact of introducing hygiene related interventions to establish a causal relationship between menstrual hygiene management and women’s economic outcomes. The RCT is implemented in Vadodara, Gujarat, across 60 randomly selected villages from two blocks in Vadodara district, involving more than 1,500 women. We randomly allocate these 60 villages into three groups. In treatment group 1, women in randomly selected 20 villages receive upto two-hours menstrual hygiene awareness session delivered by an expert. In treatment group 2, women in randomly selected 20 villages receive the same awareness session along with a reusable menstrual product. The third group serves as the control group and does not receive any intervention.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Randomization done by a computer using Stata
Randomization Unit
Villages
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
60 villages
Sample size: planned number of observations
1533 women
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
20 villages in treatment 1, 20 villages in treatment 2 and 20 villages in control group.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode, Institutional Review Board
IRB Approval Date
2025-07-26
IRB Approval Number
IRB/285/15072025
Analysis Plan