The need for comprehensive menstrual education, access to hygienic sanitary products, and an end to discriminatory practices is paramount

Although menstruation is a natural process for women and girls, it continues to be associated with deep-rooted stigma, imposing daily challenges, and hindering their growth. Lack of scientific menstrual awareness and management pushes adolescent girls in most parts of India to seclusion and torment within their own homes, making it a harrowing experience. In villages that are tucked away in the hilly states, the situation is quite shocking.

Disha (name changed), a 16-year-old from Pothing village in Bageshwar district, Uttarakhand, shares her distressing experience, “At times, I hide from my parents while I menstruate because it’s a torture to stay in a cowshed. Often, I go through severe cramps, but as I don’t inform my parents about getting periods, I refrain from sharing my pain. But I cannot put up this act every month because my mother ends up suspecting pregnancy.”

Culturally in India, women and girls still face discrimination and inhumane treatment during menstruation, and Uttarakhand is no exception. The practices around menstruation differ in each village but there are certain rules across the region that menstruating girls and women have to follow. 

In Pothing village, for instance, when a girl gets her period for the first time, she is banished to a cowshed outside the house for 21 days.  Consequently, these girls spend a total of 60 days each year eating, sleeping, and studying with cattle. During this time, they not only stay away from their homes but are also forbidden from using the household toilet. "The most dreaded times are the bitterly cold months of December and January when we have to go to the river at 4-5 AM in the morning to take a bath. We try to use fewer blankets during winter nights as washing them every day is quite laborious," reveals Nisha Gadiya, another adolescent girl from the village.

Aside from the unsanitary conditions, the girls lack essential support during their periods. “During this time, we do not even receive timely meals, which leaves us feeling weak. Because of this, we can’t study properly. Moreover, sanitary pads are not readily available even at the chemist shops located quite far away from our village, and affording them is another challenge. We resort to using clothes during our periods," adds Nisha.

These practices have turned the menstrual cycle into a traumatic experience for adolescent girls as they fear staying alone outside their homes. “Younger girls are usually afraid to sleep alone away from home in the cowshed at night. When we were young, we dreaded being imprisoned for a few days each month, as if we had committed a crime. We would cry alone at night, thinking how good it would have been if our period had never come at all,” expresses 17-year-old Maya.

The villagers firmly believe that menstruating women are impure, and any physical contact during this period will make the other person fall sick. Purification rituals involving cow urine are performed to counter such perceived impurities. While highlighting the deep-rooted nature of these superstitions, Chandra Gadia, a teacher from the village, shares, “There is an urgent need to challenge these ‘man’-made laws. It is imperative to put an end to any form of violence inflicted upon women and adolescent girls in the name of customs and rituals," emphasizes Chandra. The need for comprehensive menstrual education, access to hygienic sanitary products, and an end to discriminatory practices is paramount. Advocacy and awareness programs should be implemented, not only in Pothing Village but throughout the region, to combat these deep-seated taboos and foster a society that embraces menstrual health and dignity.

(The writer is a recipient of the Sanjoy Ghose Media Awards 2022) Charkha Features