Periods or menstruation is a natural biological process in Girls and women or we could say that this is the reason why you and I are even here. The survival and propagation of our species depend on this phenomenon. Despite this, the shame associated with menstruation is ever seated among people.
Smell, mess, blood, gore, impurity, pain, uncomfortable and disgust are the elements with which menstruation is generally associated with. And probably that is why women feel uncomfortable talking about their periods.
One of the many barriers includes the Lack of education about menstruation. Parents don’t talk about this to their daughters until they get their first period. Yet from the very beginning she has been told by her mother to keep it secret and don’t talk about it in front of her brother, father or any other men. After that girls keep on believing that it is taboo to even talk about it.
The second place where children could learn about it is from their Teachers. Teachers feel awkward and shameful while talking about this and sometimes they even skip the chapter. And children keep on staying unaware about this.
There are communities where a woman is considered impure when she is on periods, they are told not to touch and eat Pickles, stay away from Religious things and Eat and wash their utensils separately. There are mainly Older women who impose all these things because she has been taught the same by her parents.
Also, there are examples of cities and countries like Jharkhand and Rajasthan where she is not allowed to enter the kitchen, In Japan women can’t cook Sushi. In Afghanistan, it has been said that if she takes a bath she will become infertile. In Nepal, women stay in a cowshed during their periods.
According to the survey- 3 out of 10 girls unaware of periods. It is alarming to note that, A 2017
found that 1 in 7 girls and young women in the UK didn’t know what was happening when they got their first period. 1 in 4 stated that they felt unprepared for the beginning of menstruation.
Both mother and father should talk to their daughters openly about menstrual hygiene and puberty so that they get prepared for the onset of menstruation. Talking about menstruation is considered taboo and girls often face stigma and discrimination during this time.
A quality high-school education can transform a girl's future, yet around the world, many adolescent girls miss school or even drop out altogether for one simple reason: menstruation. In schools, there should be life skills training and workshops to teach the students of every gender about this natural phenomena and to provide them proper sexual education, Menstruation and poor sanitary products access affect girls’ school attendance Because girls do not want to go to schools due to shame and scared of blood-stained clothes. They should teach the students that menstruation is a normal physical and biological change in the body so that students of another gender especially Boys could know about their role. And this is the only way from where boys or the future men of the society could have healthy attitudes about menstruation. Boys and Men should talk about menstruation so that the myths and wrong ideas about it can be removed.
Many times the girls cannot afford to buy sanitary pads. For this, sanitary products and materials can be provided or Sanitary pad vending machines could be installed in the schools which are required to manage their periods safely and with dignity. There should be water, sanitation facilities and in every school and to properly dispose of sanitary napkins, which otherwise, are a grave threat to the environment and human health overall.
In NEP 2020,
are released for sex and health education in the school curriculum. The Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM), India has been pushing for gender equality in the education system because Gender inequality, cultural taboos, poverty and lack of basic services undermine many girls’ and women’s ability to meet their health and hygiene needs.
There is a comic named “
Menstrupedia”
by Aditi Gupta and Tuhin Paul which presents a great and easy way to learn about menstruation. There is
#YesIBleed
Campaign which was launched on Feb’20 by Maneka Gandhi to create a holistic approach to the issue of menstruation.
If there will be menstrual talks in schools for every gender then only Men don’t consider this as a Private women business. The Stigma of menstruation could be removed from society because it is as natural as breathing. If people of other gender accept this fact happily then only we can remove the Social restrictions on it and there will not be any Myth and misconception. Girls could talk about it without considering it as taboo. The Psychological trauma Can be easily removed and We should welcome this change in girls life happily.
