In Bihar, Women Struggle With Access To Pads And Social Taboos During Menstruation
Today is World Menstrual Hygiene Day and obviously as a women’s magazine, we want to talk about it. And while we continue to engage in these conversations and talk about periods and taboos and what not, this is not a conversation that has reached everyone. Women in India continue to struggle with menstruation and the various upheavals that come with it, and we’ve only just started to address the problems that might come from treating women as social outcasts when they are menstruating. It’s not just that. Access to hygiene and sanitation continue to some of the bigger challenges when it comes to menstruation.
According to the National Family and Health Survey, only a 58.8% of women in Bihar, that fall within the age group of menstruation, use hygienic methods of protection. Of course, this is not entirely a situation of them not wanting to have better hygiene but more a problem of logistics, access and management.
What is perhaps noteworthy but also slightly disconcerting is that the conversation around menstruation and menstrual hygiene continues to be brushed under the carpet, despite women having significant roles in the panchayats and government jobs. With women in these positions, it is assumed that they yield significant social influence over the community and that menstruation would then become easier to talk about. But this hasn’t been the case. Experts weigh in that the topic of menstruation continues to be taboo.
“Challenges related to its (menstrual hygiene) management must be far more severe during the Covid pandemic. As per the World Health Organisation (WHO), 70% of workers in the health and social sector are women. They are the front-line health workers, like nurses, midwives and community health workers,” said Nipurnh Gupta, media coordinator, UNICEF, Bihar.
Nipurna explained that in rural areas, girls get their pads from the schools during menstruation. Now with the schools closed down to the pandemic, it spells tough times ahead for these girls.
Lack of clean water, or a regular water supply also factor in when it comes to menstrual hygiene. It’s a long and challenging road ahead when it comes to menstruation in the country but the hope is that more women have access to what should be a basic right.
