Menstrual Hygiene Day 2023 is just around the corner, and everyone is beginning to talk about the importance of awareness on menstruation. We see flyers, posters, tweets, discussions, and processions to talk about periods publicly and end the shame around it.
Now, let us look at the question of why we need to talk about periods publicly when it is something that just happens inside a woman’s body. The answer to this question is that it is a very natural phenomenon just as childbirth is. It occurs in more than half of our country’s population, and to state it very simply, menstruators need clean and safe menstrual products during this process. To get access to these products we need to step out and buy these from the shops. The shopkeepers are men. Most patriarchal families still have the male member as the head of the family and as the single-earning member-so how do you ask for money to buy sanitary napkins when the men do not know what periods are? Until very recently, the relief kits sent to calamity-struck areas would not contain sanitary napkins or any menstrual products, because people do not consider it as something as natural as requiring food to eat. You cannot control hunger and neither can you control bleeding while menstruating.
So how do we establish that needing menstrual products is a basic need ? The answer is by talking about it, and by asking public authorities to talk about it.
Let us take a look at a very recent incident that shook the whole country and the only thing to blame here is the lack of awareness, the shame, and the taboo surrounding menstruation.
TW: This Text contains information that might be triggering to some readers. Discretion advised.
A 12-year-old girl died after she was tortured for days by her 30-year-old brother as he mistook blood on the bedsheet from his sister’s menstrual period as the result of sexual intercourse. The 12-year-old girl from Maharashtra’s Ulhasnagar was having her first menstrual cycle.
According to officials, the girl has no knowledge about menstruation and didn’t know that she had gotten her first period. So the bloodstains were visible on her clothing. The accused, who was working as a security guard, got suspicious and questioned the girl, alleging that she might have been sexually involved with someone and was bleeding from her first intercourse.
The police officials said that the child, who was living with her brother and sister-in-law, was unable to explain the reason for the blood discharge as she did not have knowledge of the menstrual cycle.
The accused got angry and he burnt her with tongs on the mouth, the back, and other parts of her body, the police said. She was taken to hospital later, but was declared ‘brought dead’, the officer said. (Source: Tatva India)
It extremely is sad that even today the word “menstruation” remains a taboo for a large part of the population. Girls are not able to access menstrual hygiene products because there is no discussion on the subject. They are ashamed to ask for menstrual hygiene products. They are unable to ask for their basic needs. What this leads to is the usage of harmful materials and ill practices to absorb the blood flow. According to one study, only 36% of India’s 355 million menstruating females use sanitary napkins, while the rest use old rags, husks, ash, leaves, mud and soil, and other life-threatening materials to manage their flow. Poor menstrual hygiene is responsible for almost 70 percent of reproductive and urinary tract illnesses in Indian women, according to UNICEF.
Period shame has negative mental effects as well. It disempowers women, causing them to feel embarrassed about a normal biological process. It also stops women from reaching their full potential when they miss out on opportunities such as schools and education which are crucial to their growth. Young girls who do not receive an education are more likely to enter child marriages and experience early pregnancy, malnourishment, domestic violence, and pregnancy complications as a result.
Every time I see a woman being told to not speak about periods, I ask myself that why does the country that worships the bleeding goddess Kamakhya shun and shame women and girls for having periods?
This issue needs to be taken down by acting upon the basic structure of the society- schools.
I want the CBSE and all state boards to include compulsory lessons on menstrual health and puberty education for both boys and girls starting from the elementary level.
These are the basic steps needed to approach the problem through the education system in schools:
1.Starting workshops on menstrual health and hygiene in CBSE affiliated schools for grades 5th to 10 the beginning from academic year 2024-25 onwards.
2.Create separate NCERT books and modules to teach children about menstruation and puberty .
3.Train the teaching faculty by experts about menstruation and bodily changes so they can teach the children.
4.. Make interactive sessions with gynecologists and health experts a part of education curriculum to create a safe channel for the children to learn.
The CBSE has revised its curriculum for the year of 2022-23 to make holistic development and well-being of children the priority. This is the time to work together and bring a change in the Education Policy.
Sign my petition asking the same to CBSE at – https://www.change.org/CBSEtalkperiods and join me in asking the Central Board of Secondary Education to ensure that our future generation is provided with mandatory knowledge on menstrual hygiene and in the schools.
“CBSE, let’s make a pledge, include menstrual education in our edge!”
All the issues and root causes of violence and discrimination against women are intersectional, but the solution is only one-to talk openly about women’s health, talk openly about periods. A small step taken today will lead to a great impact on the society our future generations live in. Lets’s start from our homes today, let’s educate our sons, brothers, male friends, and fathers about periods.
Awareness is the greatest agent for change. This Menstrual Hygiene Day, let us all openly talk about periods and become an agent for change.
Sources:
1.https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/period-poverty-everything-you-need-to-know/