Periodshaming in India

70% of mothers consider menstruation 'dirty', perpetuating a culture of shame
88% of menstruating women in India use home-grown alternatives to hygienic
63 million adolescent girls live in homes without toilet facilities
70% increase in incidence of reproductive tract infections owing to poor
O U R C E S
S
Banega Swasth Swachh India (2018): 23 Million Women Drop Out Of School Every Year When They Start Menstruating In India. Available online at
NDTV-Dettol
updated on 5/28/2018, checked on 5/22/2022.
https://swachhindia.ndtv.com/23-million-women-drop-out-of-school-every-year-when-they-start-menstruating-in-india-17838/,
Indian college forces students to strip to underwear (2020). In BBC News, 2/16/2020. Available online at https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-51504992, checked
'Period-shaming'
5/22/2022.
on
On - Improving Menstrual Management in India. Available online at https://www.dasra.org/assets/uploads/resources/Spot%20On%20-
Spot
checked on 5/22/2022.
%20Improving%20Menstrual%20Management%20in%20India.pdf,
India must battle the shame of period stain (2020). In BBC News, 5/28/2020. Available online at https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-52830427, checked on 5/22/2022.
Why
of awareness​
Lack
even inside the family​
Taboo,
12% of India’s menstruating women have access to
Only
napkins
sanitary
Source: Spot On! Improving Menstrual Health and Hygiene in India
Period Shaming in India
The taboo of menstruating
A U T H O R S
Franziska Mauch; Victoria Hangen
C O U R S E
World Politics on Campus
I N T R O D U C T I O N
and ignorance
P R O B L E M S
W H A T C A N B E D O N E ?
products, like old fabric, rags, sand, ash, wood shavings, newspapers, dried
leaves, hay, and plastic
Create awareness for all those three problematic
1.
topics
Mobilize communities
Girls are typically absent for 20% of the school year due to menstruation,
Poor hygienic practices​
Train stakeholders
Create peer leaders
which is the second major reason, after household work, for girls to miss school
Lack of materials​
2.
Develop innovative solutions
Establish production units for manufacturing sanitary
Too expensive ​(while a full meal costs about 10 rupees, one pack
of pads costs about 30 rupees)​
menstrual hygiene
napkins
No information on alternatives ​
Ensure last-mile delivery of products
3.
Lack of facilities​
Not enough toilets at home and school ​(2 out of 5 schools do not
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.
separate toilets for girls, 66% of women manage their
have
in the open)​
menstruation
are excluded from using common toilets during menstruation
Girls
12 %
C O N S E Q U E N C E S
23 % of girls drop out of
school when they start to
menstruate
Mental health problems
Physical health problems
(75% of adolescent girls
O L U T I O N S
S
mothers
Educating
an enabling
Creating
in schools
environment
cloth and other
Offering
produced
locally
alternatives
suffer from infections and
Promoting health seeking
health disorders during
menstruation)
behaviour (e.g. by
highlighting the
Sometimes even suicide
importance of
due to the shame
menstruation for
reproduction)
Source: Spot On! Improving Menstrual Health and Hygiene in India