By Upasana Behar
The lifting of the nationwide lockdown, albeit in phases, has come as a relief for the vulnerable groups. The lockdown, that had started with clapping and banging of utensils, the lighting of lamps to honour the work of frontline workers, soon turned into a sequence of unjust events that affected every human being belonging to the lowest strata.
During the lockdown, each day brought a new challenge for the marginalised communities. Migrant workers, daily wage labourers, domestic help, the homeless people were the ones to suffer the most. Videos revealing the plight of these affected communities shook the conscious of the citizens of this country. Many people, societies, and organisations came forward to help.
What remained invisible from the headlines were the other secondary impacts of the pandemic that majorly affected adolescent girls, women, and children. Cases of domestic violence and violence against children increased during the lockdown. The COVID-19 outbreak and the measures to control it also impacted the girls’ and women’s ability to manage their menstruation and their health.
In a country like ours, where menstrual hygiene is still considered to be a taboo by majority of the population including women themselves, the lockdown severely impacted the health of menstruators and their accessibility to menstrual hygiene products. The lockdown limited the reach and the impact hindered the efforts of the organisations working on Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM), especially in rural areas.
In a survey conducted by the Menstrual Health Alliance India (MHAI), it was observed that menstruating girls and women had decreased accessibility to toilets and menstrual hygiene products due to increased presence of male and older family and community members around them.
The survey also highlighted the limited availability of products in the markets during the lockdown. “62% of respondents stated that in the communities they work with, access from regular channels for consumers has become challenging and 22% organizations report that there is no access to menstrual products.”
Clearly, the two-month lockdown further weakened the menstrual hygiene management for the menstruating women and girls especially in the rural and remote regions of the country.
The picture was equally, if not more, grimmer before the lockdown. Indian women’s accessibility and availability to menstrual hygiene products have always been a concern. To save themselves from the ‘systematised’ embarrassment, they attend to not buy sanitary pads from the market and expose themselves to several reproductive health issues.
While many women use absolutely no absorbent material during periods, a large population uses cloth, wool, soil, bits of hay, and ash. According to a study conducted by Rutgers, an organisation working on sexual and reproductive health, 89% women in India used cloth, 2% used cotton wool, 7% sanitary pads and 2% ash for the absorption material during their menstrual periods. Only 60% of women who used cloth, admitted to changing it only once a day leading to menstrual infection.
The most common explanation given by young adolescent girls who follow such practice is that “they feel uncomfortable changing, washing and drying the cloth in front of male members of the family.”
Another report by Dasra, released in 2014, found that 71% of girls remain unaware about the process of menstruation till they attain puberty i.e. they had no idea about what was happening to them when they received their first period. One can only imagine the immense emotional pressure on this 71 % of girls who, out of fear and stigma, choose to remain silent.
And, it is not the story of just one state. As revealed by a 2014 UNICEF report, 79 % girls and women in Tamil Nadu, 66% girls in Uttar Pradesh, 56% in Rajasthan and 51% in West Bengal were reportedly unaware of menstrual hygiene practices.
Grim Situation In Rural Madhya Pradesh
The Central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh fares the worst when it comes to menstrual hygiene management in its rural areas. According to the National Family and Health Survey – 4 (NHFS-4), only 26.4% of girls in the age group of 15-24 use absorbing material during their periods while in urban parts this percentage is 65.4.
Like the rest of the Indian states, women and girls in Madhya Pradesh consider themselves impure during their menstrual periods. In a study conducted by Amity Business School, Gwalior, many women said that they considered “menstruation as a curse of God.”
In villages, it is common for women to not discuss their menstrual cycle with anyone, not even with their mothers, sisters or husbands as they see it as a matter of impurity. The unawareness makes them believe that they’re ‘impure’ or ill during the time of their menstrual cycles.
As in other parts of India, during their cycles, women and girls are prohibited from entering the kitchen, having a bath, coming into contact with vessels containing drinking water, sleeping in the same room as others, and entering temples and unquestioningly, they accept these restrictions.
Addressing The Taboo Around Menstrual Hygiene Management
In 2014, the Germany-based NGO WASH United initiated a programme to highlight the importance of safe menstrual hygiene management and recognised May 28 as ‘Menstrual Hygiene Day’ (MH Day). Every year on MH Day, government and non-government agencies, the private sector, the media, and individuals come together to celebrate MH Day and advocate for the importance of good menstrual hygiene management (MHM) across the globe. Indian states also participate in the programme.
The state and central governments, over the years, have launched several initiatives aimed at addressing the root-causes of the issue. The Freeday Pad Scheme was launched by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in 2010. Since then, many states have started providing sanitary pads either completely free or at subsidised rates to menstruating girls and women.
The most recent and extensive actions have been launched under the Swachh Bharat Mission. According to a report published on NDTV’s website, “The Swachh Bharat (Gramin) guidelines explicitly state that funds allocated for information, education and communication (IEC) maybe spent on bettering awareness on menstrual hygiene in villages. Adequate knowledge of menstrual hygiene and development of local sanitary napkin manufacturing units is encouraged by Swachh Bharat Mission (rural) and self-help groups are to help in propagating such efforts.”
In Madhya Pradesh, an initiative like Udita Corner, that aims at disbursing low-cost sanitary pads to girls and counsel them on menstrual hygiene through Anganwadi Centres, have taken one step towards addressing the gaps. State’s capital Bhopal was the first railway station in the country to install sanitary napkin vending machine ‘Happy Nari’ with the help of a local NGO called ‘Arushi’.
The collaborative efforts of state and central government have undoubtedly made progress. Many non-profit organisations are also working extremely hard to reach out to menstruating girls and women in rural areas and create awareness among them. The ultimate goal is to make everyone aware and make menstrual hygiene management products available and accessible to them.
This pandemic has taught us an important lesson that periods do not stop for pandemics – which is also the theme for this year’s MH Day. This is the time that we intensify our efforts to ensure that periods are no more seen as a taboo topic and enable people to have safe and healthy periods.