There is a deep-rooted taboo around menstruation in India.
In general, there is a silence around women's health issues but when it comes
to menstruation women are considered impure, filthy, sick and even cursed
during their period.
A study by a sanitary towel manufacturer found that 75% of
women living in cities in India still buy their sanitary towels wrapped in
brown bags or newspapers due to shame. Male members of the family are also
almost never asked to buy sanitary towels or tampons.
32 year old Manju Baluni says;
"I will never
let my daughter suffer the way I do when I have my period. My family treats me
like an untouchable."
Not only does this taboo affect women mentally, it is also
affecting their health. Manju tells us how her mother used to cut up old bed
sheets and hide them in a box ready for use by her daughters. Her elder sisters
taught her to slip the stained cloths under clothes without men noticing them.
They could not leave them out in the sun to dry completely and as a result the
cloths were never properly dry leaving behind an awful stench as they were
re-used.
More worryingly, recent studies have shown that these old practices constitute a serious threat to these girls health. At least one in five girls in India drop out of school due to something as simple and normal as menstruation.
Fifteen year old Margdarshi lives in a small village called
Uttarakashi. She loves school and never misses classes but when she got her
first period last year she found it almost impossible. She stopped going to
classes.
"The biggest
problem was managing it. It still is. I feel embarrassed, angry and very dirty.
I stopped going to school initially...I hate it. I wish we could be more
relaxed and feel comfortable talking about it. This happens to every woman so
what is there to laugh about?"
A non-governmental organisation, Goonj, feels that the
problem lies in the fact that this has been made into a women's issue. Ashnu
Gupta, the founder of Goonj, says;
"It's not a
women issue. It's a human issue but we have just isolated it. Some of us need
to come out of this culture of shame and silence. We need to break it."
Trying to ending the silence around the issue, Goonj is one
of several groups that are running campaigns to educate people about
menstruation and the myths around it. A website run by four Indians,
Menstrupedia, aims to shatter myths about puberty, menstruation and hygiene. It
receives over 100, 000 visitors a month. It is tough being a woman
of modest means in India, and it's not going to change any time soon.
"But gradually women have started to take charge of
their lives. Many of them are not stuck at home during their period - they can
choose to go out, work, or continue with their studies.
Most importantly, they are beginning to talk about it.
Without feeling embarrassed."
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