2 years, 1 month ago-
Period poverty and stigma
Period poverty is basically the lack of menstrual hygiene or shortage of access to menstrual hygiene or menstrual education and anything and everything in relation to it in terms of medical facilities, healthcare facilities, waste management, sanitation facilities, etc. Stigma, usually social in nature, is the negative attitude or opinion or discrimination against a person based on distinguishable characters that make him/her different as compared to others. Period poverty in today’s date is leaving a large negative impact on a huge number of children, men and women. Social stigma causes period poverty in a great scale. There are multiple ill-effects of the stereotypical thoughts that inculcate this stigma in people’s minds. The society has made this social stigma act like a curse to all women out there. Stereotypical religious, traditional and customary beliefs have made periods look like an evil and demonic process which causes the entire society to discriminate against women and females. It is considered taboo, which is the main reason behind the lack of menstrual hygiene, education, sanitation and healthcare facilities, etc. Some traditional beliefs say, women cannot enter the kitchen, or visit temples, or touch food and water, or some of them do not even step into their own homes when they are on their periods. In rural areas, girls still use old rags or pieces of cloth in place of pads or sanitary napkins. They’re treated like untouchables and this is a sort of torture. They fall ill very often and catch serious diseases and illnesses due to lack of education, facilities in the presence of these social stigmas. It negatively impacts women and girls as they have to drop out of school or work at times and they also lose out on a number of educational and economic opportunities due to the same. It should not remain to be considered taboo as it is a natural process. It should be normalized and children, both boys and girls should be provided free of cost menstrual education starting from primary school, carried on till later years in life. This would largely help the coming generations in the educational, medical and stereotypical aspect. It would free them of this social stigma and periods, sex and puberty will cease to be taboos, social stigmas and women will be able to gain the respect they deserve in the society.
A woman myself,
Shubhangini ShaktawatFundamentally in our language with think of menstruation as this untouchable, shameful subject that we do not talk about. One of the main reasons that period for poverty hasn’t him at rest as a public health crisis is Stigma. What is stigma? Social stigma is the disapproval of discrimination against a person based on perceivable social characteristics that serve to distinguish them from the other members of society. It is one of the first and foremost valuable phenomena that distinguish males from females. It also marks in a body can become pregnant. As society created gender norms centuries ago, the menarche, which marks the first period, suddenly became the milestone when gender roles were constructed. Period stigma has fostered menstruation to be a taboo subject. We are not aware that period poverty exists. There are girls all over the world as young as 10 years old or 18 years old who have been missing school routinely due to menstruation due to the simple fact that they couldn’t afford sanitary products. This number amounts to 800 million. They have to choose between the education they deserve and the horrific primitive alternatives like toilet paper, old socks etcetera. It’s atrocious and unacceptable and this needs to stop. Period poverty is robbing young girls of their childhood. This is because menstruation is something that we hide and keep to ourselves and that menstrual hygiene is not a right, it is a privilege. The idea of menstrual hygiene not being right is the basis of such a huge problem. Period poverty has been neglected majorly by the social justice movement too. Period poverty can be defined as not being able to afford period products due to lack of income.
The menstrual movement is the fight against period poverty and period stigma. It is the fight for it to table access to menstrual hygiene. Sanitary products are essential products that every woman should have access to. “Meeting the hygiene needs of all adolescent girls is a fundamental issue of Human Rights, dignity and public health.”- Sanjay Wijesekera, former UNICEF chief of water sanitation and hygiene.According to a survey of health workers in 30 countries by Plan International, Plan International, the coronavirus crisis leaves girls and women worldwide struggling to manage their periods with many confronting severe commodity shortages, sharp price increases, and lack of basic information and service access. This survey was released in conjunction with World Menstrual Health Day and draws on professional evidence from menstrual hygiene, water, sanitation, hygiene, and sexual health rights. Before the pandemic, there were several problems, but the virus exacerbates the situation. We already know that the pandemic of coronavirus has severe effects on family finances around the world. But now we also see that girls and women face a massive shortage and price increases for period products, which forces many to do what they can to manage their time. This can pose a serious threat to your health and the risk of infection may increase. Period stigma causes and has negative consequences for females because of gender inequality.
Activists have been pursuing improved information on menstruation health, free products, and more for decades. However, the government and the media are just recently gaining momentum in the provision of period items. The movement has been more and more prominent since roughly 2015. Initiatives and campaigns go hand in hand. However, the common aspect of most of these efforts is that they focus on the product. The bigger concern, stigma, may be missed by placing the pad, the tampon, the cup, or the pants first.
However, people need more than pads, information, and assistance. There is no doubt that access to things is very crucial. But, after a deeper reflection, (partly) the same old tabu continues. As Professor Chris Bobel observes in her latest work on women, gender, and sex studies, the pleasant time in the span of time that we don’t see or know. Cover it, cover it up, and live on. The underlying truth we seldom deal with or see is messy.Period was a topic that has remained behind closed doors and was only discussed by women. Things have changed drastically since then but still period or menstruation has remained a taboo in our country. Mensuration is perceived as unclean or embarrassing, inhibiting even the mention of menstruation whether in public or in private especially in the presence of men. A thing as natural as menstruating is associated with such shame or embarrassment baffles me. Women have different ways to tackle menstruation. In rural areas, women who do not have access to sanitary products are unable to afford such products due to high costs. So, they rely on reusable cloth pads which they wash and use again which is unhygienic. In urban areas, women manage menstruation differently when they are at home or outside. While some women know how to manage the used sanitary pads, some don’t know the environmental hazards caused when they flush them in the toilets. We need to educate women to use the right techniques to maintain menstrual hygiene. Menstruating is like urinating or breathing despite this it’s taboo!! It is a wondrous process, giving rise to the capacity to conceive and give birth. There is no human race without it. The taboo around periods makes it difficult to talk about the complications that come up with it like uterine cramps, backaches, and emotional turmoil. Periods can hurt and derail girls from their daily activity, it is uncomfortable and messy. It affects girls when they are ashamed of their blood-soiled clothing. Girls are always afraid to talk about periods in public and they have a fear of embarrassment while they are at school during their periods. It is such a big taboo that till now we see girls buying sanitary pads from a place where there are women sellers or taking sanitary napkins in black non-transparent bags away from people’s eyes to escape embarrassment. We are in a time when new inventions are making the world better and smarter but when it comes to period or menstruation the stigma remains the same. Things are changing as social media has emerged as a new platform for raising voices but there are people who still consider periods taboo. We need to change and it will only happen if we freely discuss periods as a natural biological function in a respectful and positive way, smashing taboos together.
It’s 2022 and periods are still considered as a taboo in India. A menstruating women is considered as impure. Menstruation has always been surrounded my myths and taboos in India. Such taboos about menstruation present in many societies impact on girls’ and women’s emotional state, mentality and lifestyle and most importantly, health.
In India it is almost impossible to even have a normal conversation on the topic of periods and even to this date the cultural and social influences appear to be a hurdle for advancement of knowledge on the subject. Many women are restricted to perform several activities during the time of their periods. In rural areas, some girls are not even allowed to enter the kitchen during the time of menstruation. They are considered un-hygienic and dirty and even the food prepared by them is considered contaminated. They are restricted from offering prayers, entering religious places and reading holy books. Due to poverty, women are unable to afford even a normal pad, leading to the use of dirty clothes which poses a great danger to their health.Instead of acknowledging the health related issues associated with menstruation, people pay more attention to the myths and try their best to adhere to it. Due to the same reason a large number of girl of rural areas in India drop out of their school as soon as they begin menstruating. The first and foremost strategy in this regard is raising awareness among girls related to menstrual health and hygiene. In India, young girls grow up with limited knowledge about menstruation as their own sisters and mothers shy away from discussing such topics with them. Periods is nothing but a natural and healthy process and it is high time that we break these taboos and normalize talking about it.
Stigma around periods is something that most of us are aware of. Why is that so? Because almost every home impose some sort of restrictions around women who are menstruating. No matter how much it affects the mental of the women, these restrictions are never-ending and they keep on contributing to the stigma around periods. While stigma around periods is definitely deeprooted in the Indian society, at least a lot of women experience it at the same time and hence we know that there is work happening to cure it. But there’s something that the majority of people are not aware of and that is period poverty.
Women belonging to economically weaker classes or from rural areas don’t get access to the necessary period products, and hence they are forced to use unsafe products like dirty cloths, sand, or even ashes. This is a very shameful thing for our country. Period products are not and will never be a thing of luxury for women, it’s literally their basic necessity, then why is our country not able to fullfill the basic necessity of half the population? This needs to be rectified as soon as possible. We need to work towards ending both period poverty as well as stigma in the coming years.
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