Menstruation Day: Girls of Purulia Rejecting Taboos and Normalising Menstruation
The onset of menstruation among girls brings about various physical, physiological and psychological changes in the girl’s body, however, in most cases these girls are not aware about the phenomenon until it occurs. After beginning to menstruate, girls are imparted with knowledge around menstruation which typically restricts their movements and tells them what not to do and how to behave during menstruation along with other superstitions. These taboos and believes restrict the girls from seeking help and performing other personal and social activities such as going to religious places, using the kitchen, going to vegetable fields, etc. In rural West Bengal, there is limited awareness among the girls regarding the hygienic practises during menstruation. According to the National Family Health Survey 2019-2021, 38.8 percent girls between the ages 15-19 and 46.3 percent girls between the ages 20-24 in West Bengal use cloth pieces during menstruation which is considered unsafe.
Professional Assistance for Development Action (PRADAN) has been working on women’s health, sanitation and nutritional requirement since 2016 in Jhalda 1 and Jhalda 2 Block in Purulia district of West Bengal and so far, reached out to more than 4000 adolescent girls. For the past years, creation of a safe space to talk about menstruation followed with rigorous awareness camps and demonstrations have helped the girls to break away from their fear and shyness. Earlier the girls would shy away from even accepting that they go through menstruation. Their source of information and knowledge were either their siblings or female friends who were of the same age. They would even miss school for the fear of staining their clothes as they did not use hygienic methods such as sanitary napkins, locally prepared napkins, etc or consult the doctor when undergoing tremendous pain. The girls were not aware about the functioning of the female reproductive system or why they got their periods every month. They would dry their cloths in the shade, away from people’s sight. One girl recalls how she thought she had sinned when she got her first period.
PRADAN, with various kinds of support from IKEA Foundation and Eco Femme, has spread awareness through meeting cycles, picture cards, storytelling, videos, games, haemoglobin camps and also taking out rallies in villages where the girls walked around with sanitary napkins and placards sloganeering ‘Amader Rokto Sudhho, Amader Gorbo’ meaning ‘My Blood is Pure, My Pride’. They have also had intensive discussions around sustainable and eco-friendly ways of practising menstrual hygiene where earlier we introduced them to biodegradable pads and making sanitary napkins available through ‘Pad Corners’ in their villages and to restrict the dumping of pads in waterbodies of the villages. Presently, PRADAN is working in collaboration with Eco Femme who support us by supplying Reusable cloth pads in the shape of napkins to the girls of Jhalda 1 and Jhalda 2 Blocks which is sustainable and eco-friendly. So far 1300 girls have received these cloth pad kits and are using it and given positive feedback.
Rani Mahato, a 17-year-old girl of Chirutarn village after attending an awareness camp around nutritional needs during menstruation mobilised her friends and went to the sub-centre to ask for iron tablets and received them. Sonamoni Majhi recalls that earlier when a man had asked her what she was carrying she had said it was the sole for her sandal but now she can confidently say to anyone that she is carrying sanitary pads. The girls and women have started questioning the taboos associated with menstruation and also pledged to share these information with their peers, family members and others. The women of the villages have also participated and practise the cultivation of nutrition-garden in their backyard to fulfil their nutrional needs and use iron ‘kadhais’ or cauldrons. They have also become more aware about the ill effects of early marriage on their psychological and physical health.
The article has been authored by Shainy Ghosh, executive, PRADAN
