PERIOD POVERTY AND STIGMA
Menstruation, Time of the month, Period, Women’s problems, Female troubles, etc., and many more words are used for one specific thing but it’s not about how many words but are used harshly and depicted as offensive and shameful which makes women feel inferior. A study conducted by the International Women’s Health Coalition found that around 5000 slang words are used for the term menstruation in 10 different languages.
Periods are nothing like offending thing but people look upon this as if it such shameful and then they discriminate among females when they are having periods and the way treat women’s during that time is just a very upsetting part of the whole menstruation phase, still many communities believe in the differentiation of women and make them do all chores separately like not entering the kitchen, live separately for that duration, not allowing to move out of one place, this kind of stigmas are faced by women in many rural areas or in a patriarchal society.
Period poverty is so common that it affects girls and their life in many ways, including not having proper access to washrooms, not able to afford sanitary pads, skipping schools for that number of days, and then gradually discontinue education. Still, many rural areas don’t have proper water supply, sanitation, medical facilities, and this results in poor health and then it becomes a major problem, for e.g., during periods if women face any problems, then consulting a doctor is suggested but lack of facilities and being poor, they neglect serious things.
Periods are a topic to be discussed openly because it’s not only about women but it’s for all and gets educated about this thing, whether schools, colleges or workplace. Girls skip schools because of lack of sanitation and hygiene and are the same at the workplace for women too. Poverty makes women sacrifice and survives in every aspect and if it continues then there will no improvement in anything and the present scenario will become permanent.
The first step to solve these can be education to each and everyone and making access to health care and sanitation. Also making people aware and make them widen their thoughts on these topics so that society would be a better place for women to stand equally with each individual.