innovation in Activewear propelling its steady growth

SUSTAINABILITY
that women are so enthusiastic about
this scheme that they manage their
work effectively so that their period
leave doesn’t impact the factory’s output.
Benchmark in India
Though the labour-oriented, apparel
manufacturing industry cannot be
compared with any other industry, but
there are a few examples that can be
said to be the benchmark. Still, there
are a few good examples as food delivery
service Zomato which has introduced
up to ten days of ‘period leaves’ in a
year for all women employees to build
a more inclusive work culture. Swiggy
also has ‘No Questions Asked’ Period
Time-off for women delivery partners
and a monthly two-day time off
policy during periods for them (with
a minimum earnings guarantee too).
There are also a few more companies
in various industries/sectors having
similar policies.
What more can be done
In Delhi-NCR or any other apparel
manufacturing hub in Tirupur and
nearby other hubs also, only few
factories are putting in efforts for
menstrual hygiene as factory owners
don’t have an interest and thrust on
this. “This issue is not in the factories
owners’ priority list. At our own level,
we do have some initiatives focusing
on awareness and subsidised sanity pad
distribution but the budget constraint
is there,” said A. Aloysius, Founder,
Social Awareness and Voluntary
Education (SAVE) NGO of Tirupur.
He further added that factories should
also have proper focus on the disposal
of used pads as a small chunk of women
workers who are managing pads on their
own, don’t have any options in factories
to dispose of the pads. And it is also
harmful for them.
Few State Governments are
distributing free sanitary napkins in
schools. Similar schemes can be there
for garment factory workers and the
cost can be borne by Government as
well as factories.
Efforts are also required at the policy
level as the Menstruation Benefits
Bill was introduced in 2017 in the
Indian parliament but so far there is no
proposal to grant menstrual leaves and
it is not passed yet. Interestingly Bihar
has had menstrual leave for women
employees since 1992.
Under the bill, women employed by
both public and private establishments
registered with the Central and State
Governments, are entitled to two days
of menstrual leave every month, which
would amount to 24 days of leave
annually.
Few of the buyers are having some
support of the factories for this like
VF Corp., has developed Menstrual
Hygiene Management modules as
part of the HER Project in Chennai
and Bengaluru. It is also improving
access to feminine hygiene products
Birla Cellulose, a part
of Aditya Birla Group,
has recently teamed up
with Bengaluru-based
GoNaturato to produce costeffective
and environmentfriendly
sanitary pads using
the viscose-based Purocel
EcoDry fibre as a top-sheet
in their GoNatura sanitary
pads. Birla Cellulose’
target is to overcome
the environmental
consequences endured due
to the global consumption
of plastic-based single-use
sanitary pads and curb
the ecological damage
through plastic-free natural
sanitary pads available
at an affordable price. Its
team has been working
tirelessly with GoNatura
to successfully integrate
through multiple product
trials in an effort to ensure
smooth integration of their
sanitary pads.
NGOs and platforms that
can support
• Swasti, The Health Catalyst
• Breakthrough
• Beyond Blood
• Goonj
• Humjoli Foundation
• Myna Mahila Foundation
• Project Baala
• Breaking The Silence
• Aara Health
to create an enabling environment
for women workers. The educational
pilot project was launched in 2018
and was expanded in FY 2020. It is
also improving access to feminine
hygiene products to create an enabling
environment for women workers.
To start with
If a particular factory doesn’t have
resources to support women workers
with period products, it can start
with awareness for imparting proper
information and guidance regarding
menstrual hygiene management.
NGOs like Sachhi Saheli have included
the initiative of Menstrual Café.
Soumya Dabriwal, Founder of Delhibased
Project Baala, another leading
organisation has exposure of working in
this direction with companies from few
industries.
She asserted, “We have done some work
with Shahi Exports and if any other
garment manufacturing companies
come forward, we will definitely work
with them.”
Factories can arrange the show of
Padman movie, (based on the true story
of a social entrepreneur who creates
a low-cost pad-making machine).
There are video messages from popular
bollywood actresses encouraging women
to break the silence on menstruation,
and these videos can be shared with
women on Whatsapp.
46 AO India | November 2022