Relevance of menarche, menopause and other bioevents to fertility | Anthropology Optional for UPSC PDF Download

Introduction

"Fertility is measured by offspring, not by honours." - Alexander Grothendieck.
Days of celebrations with the Native Americans: Navajo are the biggest tribe of Native Americans in the United States. They celebrate menarche grandly. The menarche ritual is called Kinaalda. As soon as a girl gets her first bleeding, a celebration of multiple days starts and everybody helps preparing the party. The Kinaalda ceremony can go on up to seven days, and all this time the girl is protected and cared for. She is treated like a princess: the women wash her, give jewelry and decorate her skin. The tribesmen and women sing for her and make her dinner. Because: the happier the girl during the Kinaalda, the happier she will be the rest of her life with good fertility.
A Navajo Girl

Contrary to this we see a different scenario in Gonds tribes of Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra. They follow an age-old belief of isolating menstruating girls and banish them to ' period hut' or gaokar in local language which is located outside the village. It is made of windowless mud room with no toilet and no access to water. The girls use mahua leaves covered with paddy chaff as pads. These unhygienic menstrual practices often leads to infections, illnesses and sometimes even deaths. Events like this shows us that different society treat menarche and other bioevents to fertility differently.
The Gond "Period Hut"

Fertility is the realized capacity of individual to produce children. This is measured by counting the number of children born to an individual or couple. To produce the children number of activities occur in both female and male reproductive system. All these activities to produce children in both female and male are called as bioevents to fertility.

Relevance of Menarche to Fertility

The term menarche was first introduced by EH. Kisch in 1910. Menarche denotes the beginning of the cycle of menstruation and onset of adult sexual life. It is considered as an important event socially and medically in female life, as it denotes the possibility of fertility.

Age at Menarche

The age at which menstrual cycle begins is different for different females. The age at menarche is influenced by many factors like genetic, social, economic, environment and nutrition.

• The average age at menarche has declined over the last century. The world wide mean age at menarche varies based on geographical region, race, ethnicity etc.
• According to many studies the average age at menarche is 13. And in asian population age at menarche is more compared to west.
• According to studies of Gray 1976 in USA it is 12.5 and Turkey it is 12.74.

Approach to Study Age at Menarche

In physical anthropology the approach to understand menarche is diverse.
Anthropologist uses: 

• Primatological data
• Historical data
• Cross cultural data and
• Evolutionary data

Biological and Genetic Factors influencing Menarche

• Girls reach menarche at the similar age as their mother. Girls of a particular society have similar age at menarche provided all are equally fed. Example Assamese girls at 13.2 years.
• Non Identical twin sisters reach menarche at an average of twenty months apart and Identical twins sisters reach menarche at an average of two months apart.
• The secretion of hormones estrogen is also based on genetic factor.

Social and Nutritional Factors influencing Menarche

• Nutrition and social status of women in a society has significant effect on age of menarche. 
• Study of McKinley 1978 shows that Singapore girls have 12-14 years, south African girls have 13 years and Indian girls have 12-13 years.
• According to A.M. Tripathi urban girls have less age of menarche when compared to rural girls in India due to the access to nutritional food.
• Example: Delhi girls- 11.20 years and Lucknow girls- 14.50 years.

Environmental Factors influencing Menarche

• Age at menarche is less affected by climatic factors. 
• Examples: Nigerian girls and Eskimo girls have average age at menarche 14.3 and 14.4 years respectively. 
• The two population live in completely different climate. Same is for European and Assamese girls - 13.2 years.

Relation of Menarche to Fertility

• In many girls menarche doesn't mean ovulation has occured. In postmenarchal girls in the first year Menarche about 80 % of the cycles were non-ovulatory, 50% in the third and 10% in the sixth year.
• Regular ovulation means there would be consistency in flow, duration of menses and time interval between menses. Continuous ovulation requires a body fat content of atleast 22%. An anthropological term for this state of potential fertility is called nubility.
• Contrary to this some girls ovulate before the first menstruation. It is possible for a girl who has engaged in sexual intercourse shortly before her menarche to conceive and become pregnant, which would delay her menarche until after the end of pregnancy. This is against widely held assumption that a woman cannot become pregnant until after menarche.
• A young age at menarche is not correlated with a young age at first sexual intercourse.
• Early menarche results in longer window of fertility and late menarche results in shorter window of fertility.

Menarche in Current Times

• The average age of menarche has declined in the last decade. 
• According to some of the experts this is due to the improved nutrition and decreased physical activity of young girls.

Relevance of menopause to fertility

Menopause is when mensuration stops and female reproductive hormones slows down. This phenomenon is universal and marks the end of woman's reproductive cycle. It is the time in womens life when menstruation stops permanently and she will be no longer able to bear children. Menopause is defined as having occurred when a woman has not had any vaginal bleeding for a year.
Fertility Life Cycle

Changes During Menopause

• Woman experiences hot flashes, difficulty in sleeping, mood swings and irregular libido. 
• Before menopause womans periods would become irregular i.e shorter or longer duration.
• Hot flashes are associated with shivering, sweating etc. These stop after two or three years. 
• It is associated with decreasing hormone production by ovaries.

Age at Menopause

• Menopause generally occurs between 49-52 years of age but range may vary from 40-60 years of age.
• In Indian women the average age of menopause is 45.03 years. In UK it is 51 years.
• In western countries the average age at menopause is higher.
• 1-2% of women are affected by premature ovarian failure i.e ovaries stop working at very early age.

Factors influencing Menopause

• Genetic factors plays an important role in deciding the age at menopause. A daughter may follow her mother's pattern of menstrual cycle.
• Nutritional factors are important in deciding the age at menopause. Better nourished woman has higher age at menopause compared to poorly nourished woman.
• Some diseases lead to early menopause like coeliac. 
• Medical treatment: Hysterectomy removal of uterus will lead to early menopause about 3.5 years earlier than expected.
• Lifestyle: Lifestyle of woman can promote early onset of menopause like smoking, consuming alcohol, eating junk food etc.

Relation Between Menopause and Fertility

• Menopause is the end of woman's reproductive cycle.
• Woman cannot bear children once menopause occured.
• Early menopause can also lead to fertility problems.

Conclusion

Menarche and menopause are significant bioevents in a woman's life, marking the beginning and end of her fertility. The age at which these events occur can vary between individuals and populations, influenced by factors such as genetics, nutrition, social status, and environment. Anthropologists use various approaches to study menarche, including primatological, historical, cross-cultural, and evolutionary data. Menarche does not guarantee immediate fertility, as some girls may not experience ovulation right away. On the other hand, menopause marks the end of a woman's reproductive cycle, and she can no longer bear children once it occurs. Both menarche and menopause are essential aspects of a woman's fertility life cycle and are influenced by numerous factors. Understanding these events and their impact on fertility is crucial for improving women's reproductive health and well-being in various societies.