Challenging menstrual taboos in rural India

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Challenging menstrual taboos in rural India

Friday, 31 January 2025 | Swapna Majumdar

Challenging menstrual taboos in rural India

Cultural taboos and lack of awareness often confine girls and women to their homes, keeping them away from school, kitchens and religious spaces

In India, approximately 335 million women experience menstruation but the majority of them are uncomfortable about speaking about it or discussing their menstrual hygiene problems.

Parents, especially in rural areas are often ignorant and unprepared to discuss this subject with their adolescent daughters. However, an ongoing campaign called ‘Red Achcha Hai’ (Red is Good) running in three states is breaking the silence around menstruation and debunking taboos and restrictions that confine girls and women to their homes and bar them from attending school, entering the kitchen and participating in cultural and religious events.

First started in 2018 as a programme to make women and adolescents in rural areas in Gujarat aware of body literacy, fertility and menstrual hygiene by CHETNA, a not-for-profit working on nutrition, health and women’s empowerment, it acquired a new urgency in 2020 when newspapers headlined the shocking story of how girls in a college hostel, supported by a religious trust, were asked to strip by the college authorities for breaking the hostel’s rules for menstruating girls.

This made CHETNA realise that they needed to accelerate and escalate their efforts. Thus, the Red Achcha Hai campaign. Started with a new vigour first in rural areas of Gujarat, and Rajasthan and later in Madhya Pradesh, the eye-catching Red Achcha Hai campaign tapped the power of drama and visual communication with the CHETNA team dressed in red explaining the menstrual process, the need for menstrual hygiene and breaking myths and taboos around menstruation.

The positive impact of this awareness programme and distribution of 2199 menstrual hygiene management (MHM) kits containing three information booklets, a clothes brush, a nail cutter and a rope to dry the washed cloth, led to its continuation in 47 schools of Sansad block of Ahmedabad since February 2024. Even while focusing on adolescents, the campaign continued to reach out to women too.

In 2023, when the campaign was being conducted across 16 villages of Jhagadia block, Bharuch district of Gujarat, a woman sarpanch was invited as a chief guest for an event to celebrate nutrition week organised on the grounds of an adjoining temple.

The sarpanch expressed her reservations as it was the fourth day of her period. However, after some discussions on the myths surrounding menstruation, the CHETNA team motivated her to come to the function. The sarpanch not only came for the function and sat on the temple steps but entered the temple.

This act made her an icon for breaking the myths and taboos surrounding menstruation and helped to inspire other women shackled by societal barriers imposed by their families during their menstrual cycle. A mother of a malnourished child, who was also one of the participants, was menstruating on the day of the function and was reluctant to attend. However, when she was informed that the sarpanch, who was also menstruating, had entered the temple, she took courage and followed her.

The sarpanch’s actions challenged traditional taboos and set a powerful example. It highlighted the power of education and support in overcoming menstrual stigma. The campaign has reached more than 10,000 women and girls and many young people are coming forward to support the campaign.

The students of Riverside School of Ahmedabad City supported the campaign by raising funds for the initiative to end discrimination against women and girls. Poor menstrual hygiene practices may lead to recurring reproductive tract infections which may increase the risk of cervical cancer. The ‘Red Achcha Hai’ campaign is changing mindsets and empowering women and girls to break free from restrictive cultural norms.

(The author is a journalist writing on development and gender; views are personal)

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