Help poor women get access to sanitary pads by Goonj

In a society which usually treats issues surrounding menstruation as a stigma and a taboo, the outlook of people of Rajasthan‘s Kharadi Phala village towards this subject is a testament to the positive change which is slowly, but steadily engulfing the country.

Situated approximately 70 km from Udaipur, Kharadi Phala houses around 290 families. It was here that Team Goonj, under its Not Just a Piece of Cloth (NJPC) initiative, conducted a meeting primarily to raise awareness and foster education on the subject of menstruation and women's health. To effectively conduct the meeting, informative banners and posters were put in place, which surprisingly, attracted an unusual crowd. As a refreshing surprise, 10 men spent a lot of time reading the posters and also participated in the NJPC session. The attendees, comprising 10 men and 60 women, gave a patient hearing to the insights and information furnished by Team Goonj. When Team Goonj wished to speak with the women attendees about their menstrual problems, the men folk quietly excused themselves from the session for the last 10 minutes, conscious of the fact that their presence could be a possible hindrance to an open discussion. Such was the positive outlook of the men that they wanted, women and men alike, to be educated about menstrual hygiene. They were even supportive of women expressing their discomfort or problems faced due to menstruation. Stressing on the importance of the NJPC session, some men expressed saying, “Activities such as these are very important for women. If they are quiet and won’t speak up about the difficulties and discomfort they face, how can we understand their difficulties?”

The outlook of these positive-thinking, open-minded gentlemen of Kharadi Phala village, hopefully, will soon be shared by many others, shunning the unnecessary and unwarranted taboos and stigmas surrounding this subject.

Putting cloth into perspective: Understanding deeper connect between women, clean cloth and dignity.

4 months in a year the women of Kandhamal district in Odisha work in paddy fields, while the rest of the year they seek out a living by making utensils out of Sal Tree leaves. Speaking with these women about their menstruation, during a Chuppi Todo Baithak (Break the Silence Meeting), we found that among the many menstrual taboos they face, the most hurting is being barred from working in the fields during their period. Talking about their health, lack of a nutritious diet emerged as a big challenge..With help from our team, they planted various local vegetables and fruit seeds. In just a few weeks time, they will have fresh vegetables to make their own food, ensuring better nutrition and some extra left to sell for extra income.

No one could blame 17-year-old Reshma, for her reluctance in taking a bath at the local dug well in her village. In the name of public convenience, it was made in the middle of the village, where it was constantly surrounded by people. On her period days, it became much tougher for here and other women to bathe out in the open. It's no wonder that most preferred to skip the bath altogether. This we found when Reshma spoke out at a Goonj Chuppi Todo Baithak( Break the Silence meeting) at Sulumuha village in Daringabadi in Odisha.When the Goonj team encouraged these women to evolve a solution, they unanimously decided to make a covered bathing space around their local dug well. Collecting local bamboo, leaves and ropes to create the structure, over 20 women worked together and created a basic but usable structure in just 1 day

Chandana from the Prajaghari village of Jharkhali in Sundarbans, was the sole earner of her family of three. Everyday she risked her life to catch fish in the nearby creek. Struggling for basics, she used anything from mud to leaves during her periods. She first participated in a mangrove plantation project with Goonj in her village. That’s when she received her first pad as a reward for her efforts, as Goonj’s My Pad. When our teams spoke to her about menstrual health and hygiene, she realized the importance and connect it has with her health.

Hygiene kits and informative sessions being provided

Program Update

Millions of women in India and in many other parts of the world still struggle for basic clothes to cover their body. For them this struggle becomes bigger as they also struggle for a basic piece of cloth for their menstruation every month in an environment of strong silence and shame around this issue. In such a scerio they end up using rags, ash, newspapers, jute bags, used pads, sand in dire compulsion or worse they using NOTHING. This all pervasive taboo around this basic need is present in the cities and villages of India which prevents women from even voicing their menstrual challenges.

Goonj has been working on this issue for the past decade, focused on evolving a comprehensive solution around what we call the three A’s (Awareness, Access and Affordability), with a larger focus on creating a space for women to talk about their menstrual challenges and treat it as a normal. That is why our work around this issue is not just about providing pads or a product, but to trigger a mass scale dialogue in the society and make it a normal issue.

The clean cloth ‘MY Pads’ we make from surplus cotton cloth from the cities act as a talking point with women in villages and slums about related health and hygiene issues and breaking the silence and shame around it by creating a safe space for women to share their challenges and restrictions and make it normal. In the last 3 years, we have reached out with over 19, 27,000 cloth My-pads and over 95,000 under garments to women creating awareness on menstrual hygiene and breaking the silence on the subject.

Story from the field

Goonj’s Break the Silence Meetings ‘Chuppi Todo Baithak’ with women across rural India are insightful about their menstrual awareness and health issues. One such story is from Ambapada village of Banswara district in Rajasthan. Rough roads connecting to the nearest market are 10 kms away for any woman who wants to buy a sanitary cloth/pad. The land here is fertile but the farmers have to depend on rain for farming. Life overall is tough as many people survive as daily wages laborers struggling on a day to day basis. Like many other villages of India there is little awareness among men and women about menstrual health and hygiene, in a culture of shame and silence and taboos. When Goonj’s team reached this area and started a dialogue with the women of the area about this basic, there were hardly any women or adolescent girl who spoke up in our Break the Silence Meeting. On a specific question to the 14 year-old Kanchan about her menstrual practices, the conversation started as she spoke up. With some hesitation Kanchan shared how she had no idea what menstruation was when she first menstruated. She shared that she was very scared but her mother just gave her a piece of saree and never explained the reason for menstruation. Kanchan shared that she uses whatever cloth is available to her at home; blouse piece to trouser etc for this purpose. She also shared the many taboos and don’ts she faces during those five days like not being allowed to enter the kitchen or not allowed to touch anybody, forbidden from going to temple. Even going to school is not allowed during menstruation. All these restrictions make her very angry but her mother has only one response “This is how women are supposed to live their lives. When Goonj team started implementing menstrual hygiene related awareness in Kanchan’s village under our Not Just A Piece Of Cloth (NJPC) initiative, she and other adolescent girls and women of her village learnt about many critical things about menstruation like hygiene practices around using cloth pad and disposal of used sanitary cloth etc. The Break the silence meetings with the girls and women of the community provide a much needed space, where they can talk openly, discuss and unlearn the culture of shame and their menstrual challenges.