I feel privileged that I had access to menstrual hygiene. Not everyone in our country has the same access. Menstrual cycle occurs in many menstruators and we have to face it for 35-40 years, which is a very long time and during which, we enter different phases of our life. For some of us, it feels like upset stomach while for some of us, it’s a three-day nightmare.
Thanks to Bollywood, through Padman, people started realising how important it is to talk about menstruation and were somewhere successful in removing the taboo of not talking about it publicly. Earlier, our moms used to place cotton cloths or old towels instead of readymade napkins. The cloth was very uncomfortable and visible through our clothes. Spotting and leakage were a common thing as well. They used to wash the cloth, sun-dry it and use it again because pads were expensive and one didn’t have that many old clothes to use every month.
But what about people who can’t afford clothing properly? They use material such as old rags or whatever is accessible, which is likely to be unhygienic and harsh for skin and can lead to many infections. And I feel pads are expensive in India because if you buy a normal pack of pads for one period, it will cost Rs 60-100, and good ones cost anywhere between Rs 200-300.
Furthermore, what about proper disposals of the pads? We still throw pads in poly bags and litter them on roads. Why do we not have proper garbage disposal/segregation system even today? People living in societies and apartments have this access because they pay extra for it. But what about houses in streets, lanes or main roads?
Nobody likes to throw their menstrual waste like that because it contains blood, but there seems to be no solution to it. It’s the duty of municipal corporations to provide these services. Now, our pads come in biodegradable and non biodegradable variants, some of which are made up of plastic while others are in cotton and bamboo. Just the availability of sanitary napkins is not important, it’s proper disposal is also essential for better environment.